Heavy Fog Over North India, Low Visibility Causing Motor Accidents

Due to prevailing cold conditions, a layer of dense fog engulfed North India on Friday morning bringing down visibility and with weathermen predicting a further lowering of temperature in the next two days, more foggy mornings are on the cards. As per reports, Bathinda in particular is severely affected by fog.

Kuldeep Srivastava, Head of Regional Weather Forecasting Centre said on Thursday that Delhi-NCR is likely to witness dense fog for the next two to three days while Punjab, Haryana, and North Rajasthan may expect a decrease in temperature by 1-2 degrees along with cold wave conditions.

"If we talk about the weather in Delhi, then a thick blanket of fog is seen in the morning hours and visibility is dropped to around 100 meters. In the Palam observatory, today morning the visibility was till 100 meters, and later around 8 in the morning there is an improvement," Mr Srivastava said on Thursday.

"In the next two days, there are chances of having dense fog in Delhi-NCR and the visibility will be around 100 meters. The minimum temperature will remain between 6-7 degrees for the next 2-3 days," he added.

He said the lowest temperature for Thursday was recorded at 4.6 degrees in Rajasthan's Bikaner.

"We have fixed criteria for the formation of fog. A layer, availability of moisture along with less wind speed are the criterion. From Punjab up to Bihar and till Gangetic West Bengal and Northern parts of Rajasthan, the wind speed in the morning hours is less which is 2-3 km per hour along with sufficient availability of moisture. During the daytime, we have a clear sky," he told ANI on Thursday.

On the same day Mr Srivastava added "There is no cold wave condition as of now in the plains, but in the coming few days from December 24 or December 25, we are expecting a decrease in temperature by 1-2 degrees in Punjab, Haryana, and North Rajasthan. So in a few places, cold waves will be felt. You can see currently we are feeling severe cold days. On a severely cold day, you can see the day's maximum temperature stays 4.5 degrees less than the normal temperature. This situation will remain for the next 2 days in Punjab, Haryana, North West UP, and North Rajasthan. Now you can say that winter has started".

Meanwhile, at least one person was reported dead and 10 others injured after the bus they were travelling in collided with a container vehicle due to fog in the Dankaur area on Tuesday morning. The bus was carrying 60 passengers. Injured were taken to a hospital, Gautam Buddha Nagar Police had said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)