Dense fog engulfs parts of north India, mercury dips
Hindustan TimesStates in the Himalayan foothills stretching from Punjab to Meghalaya recorded dense fog on Sunday, with reduced visibility over the entire region till midday. Delhi recorded a ‘cold day’, with the Safdarjung station recording 15.3 degrees C, 5 degrees C below normal; Palam recorded 14.3 degrees C, 5.5 degrees C below normal and Lodhi road 14.4 degrees C, 5.4 degrees C below normal. Today, there was dense fog in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.” Another western disturbance is likely to bring widespread snowfall to the western Himalayan region on January 22 following which minimum and maximum temperatures will drop once again over northwest India, according to forecasts. The current spell of dense to very dense fog across the Indo-Gangetic plains is likely to reduce during the next 2-3 days, with likely occurrence of dense to very dense fog in some pockets over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, north Rajasthan, Bihar, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura during the same period. ‘Cold day’ to ‘severe cold day’ conditions are likely in isolated pockets over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi during the next 24 hours and ‘cold day’ conditions in isolated pockets over Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal during the next two days, IMD said in its Sunday bulletin.