Biting cold grips national capital, no respite for next two days    

NEW DELHI:  A cold wave swept through Delhi on Wednesday as the minimum temperature dipped to 3.5 degree Celsius, the India Meteorological Department said.

It is likely to get even colder on New Year’s eve, it predicted, as dry and icy winds barreled through the plains.      

The Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative data for the city, recorded a minimum of 3.5 degree Celsius and a maximum of 16.4 degree Celsius.

On December 18, Delhi had recorded a maximum of 15.2 degrees Celsius, the lowest so far this season.     

The weather stations at Jafarpur and Lodhi Road recorded a low of 3.5 degree Celsius and 3.7 degree Celsius, respectively, it said. During nighttime, dense fog reduced visibility to 50 meters in the Palam area.

However, it improved to 400 meters by 9 am. The visibility at Safdarjung was 500 meters.

According to the IMD, “very dense” fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 meters, 51 and 200 is “dense”, 201 and 500 “moderate”, and 501 and 1,000 meters “shallow”. In the plains, the IMD declares a cold wave if the minimum temperature dips to 4 degree Celsius. A severe cold wave is when the minimum is 2 degree Celsius or less.

Cold wave conditions are predicted in parts of the city over the next two days. NCR AQI remains ‘poor’.

The average air quality plunged to ‘very poor’ category in Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida while it stayed ‘poor’ in Faridabad and Gurugram, revealed the CPCB data for the last 24 hours on Wednesday.

The presence of PM 2.5 and PM 10 remained high in the five neighbourhoods of  Delhi, the CPCB’s air quality index showed.  

The average 24-hour AQI at 4 pm on Wednesday was 310 in Ghaziabad, 315 in Greater Noida, 302 in Noida, 289 in Faridabad and 227 in Gurugram,