Delhi wakes up to dense fog, nearly severe-plus AQI; cold wave in parts of Karnataka | Weather updates

Delhi wakes up to dense fog, nearly severe-plus AQI; cold wave in parts of Karnataka | Weather updates

Dec 19, 2024 06:33 AM IST

The overall AQI in Delhi at around 6 am on Thursday stood at 448, just two short of the severe-plus category.

Parts of Delhi and adjoining areas like Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram woke up to a layer of dense fog on Thursday amid cold weather and Air Quality Index (AQI) hovering between ‘very poor’ to nearly ‘severe-plus’ category.

Noida, India- December 18, 2024: Commuters step out in foggy winter cold morning amid rising air pollution. Air pollution level in Delhi-NCR remain in the ‘poor’ category, in Noida, India, on Wednesday, December 18, 2024. (Photo by Sunil Ghosh / Hindustan Times)

The overall AQI in Delhi at around 6 am on Thursday stood at 448, just two short of the severe-plus category. However, the AQI at 21 of the 37 monitoring stations in the city listed in Sameer app, which provides hourly data on National Air Quality Index, was at the severe-plus level.

Meanwhile, other parts of north India are also reeling under biting cold conditions, with temperature in parts of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir continue to be below freezing point.

Weather and AQI updates

  • AQI in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida: Delhi’s overall AQI at around 6 am on Thursday stood at 448, the ‘severe’ category. As per 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,” 401-450 “severe,” and above 450 “severe plus.” In Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, the overall AQI was 381, while the same in UP’s Noida and Haryana’s Gurugram stood at 364 and 376, respectively.
  • Severe-plus AQI in parts of Delhi: The 21 of the 37 monitoring stations in Delhi that recorded severe-plus level AQI included: Wazirpur (482), Vivek Vihar (472)Rohini (477), Punjabi Bagh (475), Nehru Nagar (485), ITO (479), Jahangirpuri (476) and Anand Vihar (478).
  • Dense fog alert in Delhi till Friday: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday stated that foggy conditions in Delhi are likely to persist on Thursday and the day after due to the influence of western disturbances. Highlighting the prevailing weather conditions, Dr Soma Roy of the IMD told news agency ANI that a drop in minimum temperatures is expected as a result of these western disturbances. Foggy conditions reduced visibility in parts of Delhi on Wednesday as well, with the minimum temperature in the city dropping to 5 degrees Celsius. On Tuesday, Delhi recorded a temperature of 7.4 degrees Celsius at 2:30 am, as per IMD figures.
  • Orange alert in parts of Himachal Pradesh: Lower hills and plain areas of Himachal Pradesh continue to reel under cold wave conditions, with the local meteorological office warning of severe cold wave in four out of 12 districts of the state till Saturday. The Met office issued an orange warning for cold to severe cold wave at a few places in the lower hills of Una, Bilapsur, Hamirpur and Mandi districts, and yellow warning for cold wave in Chamba and Kangra districts till Saturday. Tabo in Lahaul and Spiti district recorded the coldest night temperature at minus 7.4 degrees Celsius, while several places in the lower hills shivered as minimum temperatures stayed close to the freezing point.
Tourists near at waterfall which has turned into ice amidst the continuous drop in temperature, in Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (PTI)
Tourists near at waterfall which has turned into ice amidst the continuous drop in temperature, in Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (PTI)
  • Cold wave in parts of Karnataka: Cold wave conditions are likely to persist over Bidar, Vijayapura, and Kalaburagi districts of Karnataka, with temperatures expected to be 2-4 degrees celsius “below normal” in the remaining districts of North Interior Karnataka for the next three days, IMD said on Wednesday. IMD has predicted cold wave conditions for Bidar, Vijayapura, and Kalaburagi districts. In the remaining districts of North Interior Karnataka, temperatures will be 2-4 degrees Celsius below normal.

    Isolated places in interior Karnataka may experience shallow fog/mist until December 20, IMD said. For December 23-24, the IMD has predicted “light rain” at isolated places over Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru Urban, Ramanagara, Chamarajanagara, and Mysuru districts.

  • Kashmir weather: There was a slight improvement in the intense cold conditions in Kashmir as the minimum temperature rose across the valley, but continued to settle below the freezing point, officials said on Wednesday. Srinagar city recorded a minimum temperature of minus 4.5 degrees Celsius ‘“ slightly up from minus 5.3 degrees Celsius the previous night, the officials cited in a news agency PTI report said.
A Kashmiri man walks on a wooden bridge on the frozen surface of a water in the interior of Dal Lake on a cold day in Srinagar, Kashmir, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)
A Kashmiri man walks on a wooden bridge on the frozen surface of a water in the interior of Dal Lake on a cold day in Srinagar, Kashmir, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)

Officials said the intense cold conditions over the past few days led to the freezing of the fringes of several water bodies, including the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar, while water supply lines in many areas of the city here and elsewhere in the valley were also frozen due to the cold. The famous ski-resort of Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 5 degrees Celsius ‘“ a degree down from the night before.

Tourist resort Pahalgam, which also serves as one of the base camps for the annual Amarnath Yatra, recorded a low of minus 5.8 degrees Celsius which was slightly up from the previous night’s minus 5 degrees Celsius.

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