Relief From Extreme Cold Expected For Delhi, But It Won't Last Long

Delhi residents may get some relief from chills tomorrow onwards as a western disturbance counters cold wave conditions, the weather department has said.

Visibility on the national capital's roads improved marginally this morning as fog thinned. The cold, however, persisted as the city recorded a minimum temperature of 7.8 degrees Celsius.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), cold day conditions are likely to abate over northwest India from Wednesday and then return from December 31.

According to IMD weather scientist RK Jenamani, a fresh cold wave may batter Delhi on December 31 and January 1.

"Dense to very dense fog will continue to prevail in the belt. There will be an improvement on Dec 29 because of a western disturbance that will bring fresh snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir, Leh and Himachal Pradesh. There will be drizzle in north Punjab on Dec 29," he added.

The weather scientist said there will be significant improvement in the cold wave conditions from December 28 onwards.

In Delhi, the season's lowest temperature so far has been recorded at Aya Nagar (4 degrees).

Palam recorded a minimum temperature of 7.8 degrees Celsius and Safdarjung recorded a minimum temperature of 8.4 degrees Celsius this morning.

The weather office has predicted that the minimum temperature in the national capital will remain around 7 degrees through the day.

Fog and cold conditions continued in other parts of north India.

Bhatinda recorded zero visibility once again. Visibility remained low in parts of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

IMD had earlier predicted "dense to very dense fog very likely to continue over many parts of Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi".

"Due to prevailing light wind and high moisture in lower tropospheric levels, dense to very dense fog is very likely to continue over many parts of Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, West Uttar Pradesh and in isolated pockets over north Rajasthan during the next 24 hours. Its intensity and spread are likely to reduce thereafter," the IMD said.