Dense fog over north India disrupts travel

Foggy weather in north India affects road, rail, and air traffic due to absence of active western disturbances.

A layer of fog, stretching from Punjab to West Bengal, lowered visibility over the Indo-Gangetic plains starting Thursday night, affecting road and rail traffic, officials said on Friday, January 19, 2024.

Satellite imagery showed fog developing over parts of Punjab, Haryana, north Rajasthan, and west Uttar Pradesh starting at 8 pm on Thursday.

An official at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said dense to very dense fog blanketed parts of Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, and Tripura. Moderate fog prevailed in parts of Uttarakhand, east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha.

At 5.30 am, visibility levels stood at zero metres in Bathinda and Bikaner; 25 metres in Amritsar and Patiala; 50 metres in Ganganagar, Churu, Hisar, Palam, Safdarjung, Jaipur, and Agartala; and 200 metres in Ambala, Dehradun, Sultanpur (east UP), Purnea, Bhagalpur, Ranchi, and Jharsuguda.

A spokesperson for the Indian Railways said 22 trains arriving in Delhi were delayed by up to six and a half hours due to the foggy weather.

The IMD reported that the visibility level plummeted to zero metres at the Amritsar airport by 8 pm, while it abruptly dropped from 1400 metres at 9.30 pm to 400 metres at 10 pm at the Palam Observatory, near the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

It further dropped to 50 metres by 11.30 pm and zero metres by 4.30 am, before improving to 300 metres by 7.30 am.