Weather woes: Big freeze hits hard as mercury plummets to 1.9 degree Celsius

Weather woes continued unabated for people in the North. Cold winds pulled the minimum temperature on Sunday down to a new low at 1.9 degree Celsius. The temperature was also the third lowest recorded since 1991 for the month of January. In 2008, the mercury had plunged this low in January.

The second lowest for the month was recorded in 2006 at 0.2 degree Celsius. The lowest ever for January was in 1935 at -0.6 degree Celsius, Rajendra Jenamani, a scientist at the MET Department, said.

Sunday's maximum stood at 11.8 degree Celsius — nine degrees below normal. The night-time temperature was 5 degrees below normal. According to MET officials, the temperature is expected to go up by a notch or two on Monday.

Predicting the weather conditions for Monday, MET officials said there might be fog in the morning, but the day will be clear. The maximum temperature will be around 14 degrees and the minimum will be around 3 degrees.

With the Indira Gandhi International Airport having low to moderate fog, flight operations remained normal. Airport officials said flight cancellations were only due to operational reasons and not because of the weather conditions at the airport. Low visibility procedures at the airport was initiated between midnight and 3.30 am on Sunday, as the visibility dropped to 200 metres. During this period, only two flights landed and none took off.

The next few days of the week will witness a slight increase in temperature, officials said.

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