Dense fog in parts of Delhi, Noida, rain, thunderstorm expected today; Flight ops normal

Moderate to dense fog continued to blanket parts of Delhi and its adjoining areas on Saturday, prompting the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) to issue multiple advisories over the night, asking passengers to contact airline concerned to be updated about flight status.

Delhi’s IGI airport, in its latest advisory issued at around 9:30 am on Friday, said even though low visibility procedures are in place, there has been no impact on flight operations.

Fog reduced visibility to zero in parts of Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida and other areas of the national capital region on Friday as well, leading to more than 100 flights and some trains getting delayed.

The dense fog comes amid deteriorating air quality in Delhi, which reached ‘severe’ level on Friday, with the Air Quality Index going over 400 early morning and settling at 397 at 4 pm.

Delhi-NCR dense fog 

Flight, train delays in Delhi: Dense fog was seen in parts of Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad and other towns adjoining the national capital on Saturday morning, a day zero-visibility conditions led to delay of 100 flights and several trains. Starting 10:43 pm on Friday, Delhi’s IGI airport issued multiple advisories to passengers, asking them to check the flight status with airliners amid possible impact on flights that are not compliant to CAT III, which allows operations at low visibility conditions. In its latest advisory, Delhi airport said flight operations were normal.

Rain likely this weekend: On Friday, the India Meteorological Department said Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 17.6 degree Celsius, a notch below normal, and a minimum temperature of 6 degree Celsius , 0.9 notches below normal. The IMD had predicted a cloudy sky with light rain and thunderstorms over the weekend along with dense fog in some areas in the morning.

AQI: The Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi was 409 at 6 am on Friday and settled at 397 at 4 pm, the “very poor”, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered “good,” 51-100 “satisfactory,” 101-200 “moderate,” 201-300 “poor,” 301-400 “very poor,” and 401-500 “severe.”

GRAP 3: The Centre’s panel on Delhi-NCR’s air quality on Thursday reimposed stage 3 anti-pollution curbs under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) amid a sharp rise in air pollution levels owing to unfavourable meteorological conditions.

Punjab, Haryana: A thick blanket of fog enveloped other areas of north India as well on Friday, primarily Punjab and Haryana. There was zero visibility in Amritsar because of dense fog, as per a report of the meteorological department. Fog was also observed in Ludhiana, Patiala, Chandigarh, Ambala, Hisar and Karnal.

Accidents amid fog: The reduced visibility due to foggy condition led to multiple accidents on Friday, including a collision of seven vehicles on Delhi highway in Babugarh area of Hapur, an incident in which three people were injured.In another incident, a conductor and a driver of UPSRTC bus were killed on Friday morning after their vehicle collided with a truck while attempting to overtake amid dense fog in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur, police said.