Mercury drops to season low 5.5°C on December 31

The temperature fell to the coldest this season on Monday, the last day of year 2012. Dense fog has plagued flights at the Indira Gandhi International Airport for over a week.

The mercury plummeted to 5.5 degrees Celsius on Monday, which is 2 degrees lower than normal and half a degree higher than the temperature anticipated for Tuesday. Fog is expected on Tuesday morning, according to Met officials.

Dense fog was seen at the airport around 7 am, and visibility dropped to 400 metres. Met officials said this did not cause any flight delays or cancellations. On Sunday morning, dense fog was seen around 3.30 am, which disrupted schedules of around 130 flights. Visibility was as low as 50 metres on the third runway, and stayed that way until 9.30 am.

Flight operations on Monday were affected by weather at destination airports and operational problems, officials said. As many as 27 flights were delayed and 16 cancelled, according to airport officials.

More than 400 flights were delayed or cancelled throughout last week because of bad weather. The fog had let up for four days, but returned over the weekend during the early morning hours.

Airport officials on Monday predicted that the fog would lead to a visibilty as low as 300 metres on early on Tuesday morning.

MeT department officials said the fog is expected to clear on Tuesday morning.

On Monday, the maximum temperature was 13.3 degrees Celsius, seven degrees below normal. However, MeT officials said the maximum temperature on Tuesday would rise to 15 degrees Celsius.

ALSO READ

Woman alleges gang-rape by husband, in-laws

3 more cases of minors rape reported in Delhi

Aarushi's phone was used after murder, claims CBI officer

Six-year-old boy run over by Scorpio reversing out of parking lot in Noida