Winter chill continues to grip parts of North India; cold waves and dense fog in several cities
Dec 26, 2023
Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh) [India], December 26 : The winter chill continues to grip North India, as cities such as Prayagraj, Ghaziabad and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh and Moga in Punjab faced cold waves, engulfed in dense fog on Tuesday morning. 
The temperature in Prayagraj on Tuesday at 8:30 am was recorded at 12.4 degrees Celsius, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Due to the cold wave in the city, people gathered around bonfires for warmth on the streets.
One of the residents, Vivek Pandey, while speaking to ANI said that the city has been experiencing extreme cold waves for two days now. 
"It has been very cold for the last two days. Today it has become very cold. There has been fog since night," he said.
Meerut also witnessed a dense layer of fog engulfing the city which in turn significantly affected the visibility in the city.
The temperature in Meerut on Tuesday at 8:30 am was recorded at 12 degrees Celsius, according to IMD.
A layer of dense fog was witnessed over UP's Ghaziabad as well on Tuesday morning, bringing down visibility to almost zero.
According to the IMD forecast, the minimum temperature in the city can go as low as 10 degrees Celsius on Tuesday.
The Monga city in Punjab also witnessed conditions of almost zero visibility as dense fog engulfed the city and the temperature dipped further.
The IMD on Tuesday morning released satellite images showing a layer of fog spreading over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
The Delhi-NCR region was also covered with a dense layer of fog on Tuesday morning, as the temperature dropped to almost 7 degrees in the national capital, according to the India Meteorological Department.
Meanwhile, the Delhi airport experienced delays in both arrivals and departures for about 30 flights including international due to dense fog, as per the Delhi Airport Flight Information Display System data on Tuesday morning.
The sources suggested that the fog conditions are likely to affect more number of flights in the day.
The IMD also warned of possible health impacts on people due to the dense fog in the national capital.
"Dense fog contains particulate matter and other pollutants and in case exposed it gets lodged in the lungs, clogging them and decreasing their functional capacity which increases episodes of wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath," IMD said in a release on Monday.
The IMD release further stated that the fog conditions may tend to irritate the membranes of the eye causing various infections leading to redness or swelling of the eye.
