Dense fog envelops region, rail, road traffic hit; IMD issues five-day alert

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New Delhi, December 19

The season’s first dense fog blanketed plains of the Northwest, including Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal and Delhi, this morning, lowering visibility to as less as 25-50m at some places and affecting road and rail traffic movement.

Low visibility

25-50m in Amritsar, Patiala, Bareilly, Lucknow & Bahraich

20 trains delayed by 15 minutes to 2 hours Airport operations likely to be hit

The evening New Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi was delayed by an hour. Satellite images showed a thick layer of fog extending from Punjab to eastern Uttar Pradesh across Haryana and Delhi, the IMD said, reporting visibility levels of 25-50m at Amritsar, Patiala, Bareilly, Lucknow and Bahraich. Similar conditions were likely to prevail over the plains of the Northwest till December 23, the weather office warned.

“Cold wave conditions are likely to continue over Himachal, Punjab, Haryana and north Rajasthan during the next five days. Minimum temperatures are in the range of 2-4°C over Punjab and adjoining Haryana and north Rajasthan,” the IMD said. Two weeks into December, the absence of a strong western disturbance and hardly any snow in the upper and lower reaches of the Himalayas so far were a cause of worry for wheat farmers as well as the common people. Snow and rain play a crucial part in replenishing water levels. Punjab, Haryana, HP, Chandigarh and Delhi have remained 100 per cent rainfall deficient this month.

There has hardly been any rainfall or snowfall over Uttarakhand though Leh and some parts of J&K got some light snowfall around December 9. Experts say that only two feeble western disturbances have affected the western Himalayan region this month.