At 3 degrees Celsius, Delhi logs January's lowest temperature in 2 years

A brutal cold wave swept Delhi on Thursday with the minimum temperature dropping to three degrees Celsius the lowest in January in two years making it cooler than several hill stationsMost people kept indoors and turned to space heaters and cups of hot tea to keep themselves warm as frosty winds from the snowclad Himalayas barrelled through the plains including the national capitalA blinding layer of dense fog over north India including Delhi caused major inconvenience to commuters The visibility levels were 50 metres around 530 amAccording to the weather office very dense fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres 51 and 200 metres is dense 201 and 500 metres moderate and 501 and 1000 metres shallowAt least 12 trains were delayed by oneandahalf to six hours and two rescheduled due to the foggy weather a Railways spokesperson saidThe Safdarjung observatory Delhis primary weather station logged a minimum temperature of three degrees Celsius as against 44 degrees Celsius on Wednesday and 85 degrees Celsius on TuesdayAlso Read Kanjhawala case Police looking for two people suspected of shielding accusedDelhis minimum temperature was lower than Dalhousie 49 degrees Celsius Dharamshala 52 degrees Celsius Kangra 32 degrees Celsius Shimla 37 degrees Celsius Dehradun 46 degrees Celsius Mussoorie 44 degrees Celsius and Nainital 62 degrees CelsiusThe weather stations at Lodhi Road Ayanagar and Ridge in Delhi recorded minimum temperatures of 28 degrees Celsius 22 degrees Celsius and 28 degrees Celsius respectivelyThe cold snap is expected to strain power grids and pose challenges to the homelessAs people gathered around bonfires across the city the Delhi Pollution Control Committee on Wednesday had advised resident welfare associations institutions and other establishments to provide electric heaters blankets and warm clothes to security guards to prevent open burning of biomass which leads to pollutionThe meteorological office had on Wednesday issued an orange alert for DelhiNCR for Thursday and FridayThe India Meteorological Department IMD uses four colour codes for weather warnings green no action needed yellow watch and stay updated orange be prepared and red take actionCold wave and cold day conditions are predicted to continue for the next 24 hours though there will be some improvement under the influence of a fresh Western Disturbance which is likely to affect northwest India starting January 7 a senior IMD official saidIn the plains the meteorological office declares a cold wave if the minimum temperature dips to four degrees Celsius or when the minimum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or below and is 45 notches below the normalA severe cold wave is when the minimum temperature dips to two degrees Celsius or the departure from the normal is more than 64 degrees CelsiusA cold day is when the minimum temperature is less than or equal to 10 degrees Celsius below the normal and the maximum temperature is at least 45 degrees Celsius below the normal A severe cold day is when the maximum is 65 degrees Celsius or more below the normalThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever