This time winter season has been very unusual for the National Capital Region. Generally, dense to very dense fog occurs over Delhi and NCR in the months of December and January, while its shallow in the month of February. However, the situation this time has been different. Delhi almost remained fog free during the entire season barring a few occasions.
Palam airport was affected by dense fog a couple of times leading to flight delays and diversions. Whereas, from local citizens point of view, Delhi remained fog free throughout the season and there was no major traffic disruption due to very dense fog. The visibility did reduce during early morning hours, but it did not have much impact on day to day life.
High humidity, light winds and low temperature are the reasons responsible for the formation of fog. Delayed onset of rain resulted in rise in minimums and in the absence of winter rains, humidity levels also remained low.
When rains commenced in the month of January and continued till February, humidity levels were up but moderate to strong winds did not allow the formation of very dense fog. However, Palam airport at times witnessed dense to very dense fog.
The average number of fog days in December, January, February and March is 14.8, 16.7, 6.7 and 1.6, respectively. This year, the exception is that the visibility was better throughout winters. Whereas, March witnessed two consecutive days of very dense fog on March 4 and 5, resulting in flight delays and diversions. This was because of the winter rains which continued up till first week of March over Delhi and NCR.
The temperatures are also significantly lower this season as compared to previous years. By this time, the minimums in March touch 15°C. This is not the case this time, the minimums are settling between 7 to 10 degrees.
According to Skymet meteorologists, we do not expect any rain over Delhi and NCR in the coming days. Due to an approaching Western Disturbance, the winds would change direction to southeasterlies which would be light and humid in nature. The change may lead to dense fog at Delhi’s Palam airport for short duration, but no major flight delays are expected.
Image Credit: International News
Please Note: Any information picked from here must be attributed to skymetweather.com
