Temperature dips after showers; AQI 392 in Delhi

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, January 31

The national capital saw a dip in temperature after receiving light rain due to south easterly winds on Wednesday. The maximum temperature dipped four degrees below the season’s average. The maximum temperature was 18.6° Celsius and minimum temperature was a degree below normal at 7.3° Celsius. The Delhiites woke up to a dense fog in the morning – Ridge area, Safdarjung and Ayanagar saw visibility of 50 m.

The fog disrupted flight and train operations. The flight tracking website (Flightradar24) observed over 50 flights getting delayed and 10 cancelled due to the bad weather.

In a viral video on social media, passengers were seen sloganeering against the cancellation of an IndiGo (Delhi-Jharkhand) flight on Wednesday.

Delhi airport authorities issued a flight advisory, asking passengers to contact their airlines to check for updated flight information.

According to the India Meteorology Department (IMD), light rainfall with gusty winds were observed in the capital. The amount of rainfall recorded from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm was 8.55 mm with 100% humidity in the past 24 hours.

The weather agency has predicted cloudy skies to prevail through the day with dense to very dense fog on Thursday morning with possibility of light rainfall or drizzle.

According to the IMD, till Tuesday, Safadarjung’s maximum temperature was the lowest in 13 years at 17.7° Celsius and the second lowest in the last 74 years (1951-2024) after January 2003 (17.6° Celsius).

Meanwhile, the air quality index (AQI) clocked 392 in the very poor category at 4 pm, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Several areas in Delhi recorded air quality in the severe category, including Anand Vihar (436), Nehru Nagar (449), New Moti Bagh (410), Patparganj (417), Punjabi Bagh (428) and Rohini (403). Faridabad’s AQI was 316, Gurugram 320, Ghaziabad 313, Greater Noida 374, Noida 341 and Meerut 260.