2 weeks Ago
New Delhi: Delhi reeled under cold day conditions for the third consecutive day on Wednesday. The first day of the new year witnessed a drop in temperatures and minimal sunlight. Similar chilly and overcast conditions are likely to continue till Jan 7.
Meanwhile, the day's air quality data was unavailable till late evening on the Central Pollution Control Board's website due to a technical glitch. India Meteorological Department has hinted at "above-normal temperatures" for the month of Jan for Delhi and the neighbouring region, along with no chances of cold wave conditions. Only the first week will remain colder, the department stated following its monthly weather outlook conference, which was addressed by director general of meteorology Mrutyunjay Mohapatra.
On Wednesday, Safdarjung, the city's base station, recorded a minimum temperature of 7.4 degrees Celsius, which was 0.5 notches above normal.
A day earlier, the mercury had dipped till 9.2 degrees Celsius. The city saw north-westerly winds reaching up to 12 km/h towards the afternoon and evening.
The weather department expects that the minimum temperature may gradually increase over the next few days. On Wednesday, while a number of city areas recorded cold day conditions, none of the stations saw severe cold day conditions. A ‘cold day' is declared when the minimum temperature is below 10.
1 degrees Celsius and the departure of maximum temperature from normal is 4.5 degrees or above. A ‘severe cold day' is declared when the departure of maximum temperature from normal is 6.
5 degrees or above. Safdarjung, which saw a departure of 4.3 degrees in maximum temperature, did not witness a cold day.
The maximum temperature at the city's base station was 15 degrees Celsius. However, several areas, including Palam with a maximum temperature of 12.8 degrees Celsius, Lodhi Road (15.
2 degrees Celsius), Najafgarh (13.3 degrees Celsius), Narela (13.4 degrees Celsius) and Pusa (13 degrees Celsius), did experience cold day conditions.
The weatherman has also issued a yellow alert for fog on Thursday. "Smog/moderate fog at most places and dense fog at isolated places are likely in the morning. Surface winds may reach up to 15 km/h," stated IMD.
For Thursday, the maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 17 and 8 degrees Celsius, respectively. Meanwhile, IMD, in a press conference held on Wednesday, stated that 2024 was the warmest year for the entire country since 1901, with an annual mean temperature above 0.65 degrees Celsius higher than normal.
It further issued a forecast for the region. "During Jan 2025, monthly minimum temperatures are most likely to be above-normal over many parts of the country except some parts of east, northwest, and west central India where normal to below normal minimum temperatures are likely," IMD stated. Residents, meanwhile, remained unaware of pollution levels on New Year's Day.
The Central Pollution Control Board did not update or provide the air quality index (AQI) for Jan 1, 2025. Officials attributed this to "server-related problems". On Dec 31, 2024, Delhi recorded poor air quality with an AQI reading of 283 on a scale ranging from 0 to 500.
While CPCB's AQI data remained unavailable until 9pm on Wednesday, TOI analysed levels of pollution on Jan 1 in the past few years. The records showed AQI readings of 393 in 2019, 437 in 2020, 441 in 2021, 362 the next year, 259 in 2023 and 346 in 2024. Explore the yearly horoscope 2025 for Aries , Taurus , Gemini , Cancer , Leo , Virgo , Libra , Scorpio , Sagittarius , Capricorn , Aquarius , and Pisces zodiac signs.
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