Delhi recorded its coldest day of the season onSaturday as the minimum temperature plummeted to 2.4 degrees Celsius in themorning, the weather office said.
Densefog enveloped the city reducing visibility and affecting air traffic andvehicular movement in the streets. Several trains were also hit by the fog.
Accordingto the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Safdarjung Observatory, whosereading is considered the official marking for the city, recorded the minimumtemperature at 2.4 degrees Celsius.
Theobservatories at Palam recorded the minimum temperature at 3.1 degrees Celsius,at Lodhi Road 1.7 degrees Celsius and at Aya Nagar 1.9 degrees Celsius.
Zerovisibility was reported in Palam Observatory area, which neighbours the cityairport, due to very dense fog.
An airport official said that four flights have been diverted from Delhi airport. The official said the flights are operating at the airport under CAT III B conditions, which means that the runway visual range (RVR) is between 50 meter and 175 meter.
Asper the IMD, Delhi is going to experience cold wave and severe cold dayconditions simultaneously till December 29, after which it could see a rise inday temperature.
Asevere cold day is when the maximum temperature is 6.4 degrees Celsius lowerthan normal while cold wave conditions are recorded when the minimum or nighttemperature is below 4.5 degrees Celsius.
Therecan be a change in wind direction on Saturday to easterly, temporarily, butnight temperatures will continue to fall.
Thecold and increase in fog cover also pushed the air quality into the 'severe'zone from the 'very poor' category.
IMDscientists said air quality may deteriorate from December 28-29 due to anincrease in fog cover and reduced wind speed.
However,it is likely to improve significantly on December 31 on account of a WesternDisturbance, which will bring rainfall and hailstorm.
Theweather department had said on Thursday that Delhi-NCR is expected to recordits second-coldest December since 1901 with chilling cold continuing to sweepthe region.
