Dense fog continues to cover cities as winter grips North India
Dec 30, 2023
New Delhi [India], December 30 : Bitter cold continues to grapple North India, sending shivers down spines and shrouding cities in dense fog. Residents huddle around bonfires for warmth, their breath puffing into the frosty air as temperatures plummet to bone-chilling levels.
The cities in Northern part such as Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, Jaipur in Rajasthan and the national capital, faced cold waves engulfed in dense fog on Saturday morning.
In Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, thermometers dipped to a meagre 11 degrees Celsius on Saturday morning, turning water into shimmering ice and painting rooftops white with frost.
Wrapped in thick shawls and coats, people huddled over crackling bonfires, seeking solace from the biting wind that whipped through the streets.
Due to the cold wave in the city, locals were seen huddling around bonfires on the streets for warmth.
A layer of dense fog is seen in Jaipur, Rajasthan, at 8:30 am. 
"It is very cold, it is melting; we keep driving and stop wherever we find a bonfire," said Ravi Kumar, an auto driver.
"It has been very cold, there is no arrangement from the government troop, there is not much fog, the sky is open," said Deep Mishra, a driver in Prayag Raj.
Minimum temperatures in the range of 7-11 are prevailing over most parts of
Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and in a range of
12-14 degrees Celsius over Bihar, Chhattisgarh, interior Odisha and Jharkhand. 2 to 4 degrees Celsius above normal over many parts of Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, interior Odisha and Jharkhand, according to IMD on December 30.
An upper-air cyclonic circulation lies over the West Equatorial Indian Ocean & adjoining Southeast Arabian Sea and extends up to mid-tropospheric levels. Under its influence, a low-pressure area is likely to form over the same region during the next 24 hours.
IMD has released weather forecasts and warnings for the next 5 days.
"Fog layer extended up to Sub-Himalayan West Bengal & Jharkhand across Punjab, Haryana, north Rajasthan, north MP and UP. Although the intensity of fog has also decreased at some places e.g., in Delhi, where the lowest visibility recorded over IGI Palam was 500m during 23:30 to 02:30 hrs IST," IMD posted on X.
On December 31, dense to very dense fog conditions are very likely to prevail in most places over Punjab, predicted IMD, adding that Haryana would also witness similar situations during the morning hours and in some pockets for the subsequent 3 days.
The Met department predicts that dense to very dense fog conditions are likely to continue in many places in Uttar Pradesh, north Rajasthan and Bihar on December 31 morning.
Dense Fog conditions are very likely to continue during morning hours in isolated pockets of
Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh-Gilgit-Baltistan-Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand during
December 30 to January 2; Jharkhand on 30th; Odisha, Assam & Meghalaya, Nagaland,
Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura on 30th & 31st December, 2023.
Cold Day conditions are very likely in some to many parts of Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi
and in isolated pockets of Uttar Pradesh on October 31.
Visibility Recorded (at 0530 hours IST of October 30) (<=200 metres): Punjab: Amritsar & Bhatinda-0 each, Patiala-25; Haryana-Chandigarh: Chandigarh Airport & Ambala-25 each, Hissar-50; northeast
Rajasthan: Jaipur-25; northwest Rajasthan: Churu-50, Bikaner-100; West Uttar Pradesh: Bareilly and Jhansi-50 each; East Uttar Pradesh: Bahraich-50, Lucknow, Gorakhpur & Varanasi-200 each; northwest Madhya Pradesh: Gwalior-50, Guna-200; Coastal Andhra Pradesh: Vijaywada-100;
Delhi: Safdarjung-200; northeast Madhya Pradesh: Satna-200; northwest Jharkhand: Daltonganj200; east Bihar: Purnea-200.
