New Delhi

Foggy winter mornings are here again

NEW DELHI: The wispy promises of a foggy winter are gathering strength by the day with a cottony haze overhanging the Capital on Thursday and the Meteorological Department forecasting increasingly smoggy conditions as the season progresses.

The fog, though not yet dense enough to disrupt traffic, was a spectre-like presence hovering in the air in the early hours of the morning.

“I was unable to see Vikas Marg from the Akshardham flyover at around 10 a.m. on my way to work due to an impenetrable layer of fog. Things will only get murkier from here,” said Nishant Pandey, a doctor at a private hospital.

Despite the fog, there was no disruption or delay of flights taking off from the domestic and international terminals of Delhi airport, though the weatherman had forecast “misty and shallow fog in the morning and haze during the daytime”.

Three weeks into the thick of winter, the mercury on Thursday dropped to a minimum of 10.4 degrees Celsius, a shade more than the chilling 10 degrees recorded on Monday that sent people scurrying for warmer attire. With the temperature falling and the minimum relative humidity hovering around the 39 per cent mark, the air was dry and cold. The maximum temperature recorded on Thursday was a bearable 28 degrees Celsius.

The weatherman has forecast a marginal relief for the Capital and neighbourhood on Friday with the minimum temperature expected to rise to around 11 degrees Celsius.

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