New Delhi:
Today is the coldest day of the season in Delhi. The minimum temperature rose from 6.8 degree Celsius on Thursday to 8 degree Celsius on Friday, one degree above normal. The maximum temperature, however, plunged three degrees below normal to settle at 18 degree Celsius.
Met office has predicted thick fog on Saturday morning over the national Capital.
The national Capital and its suburbs were shrouded in a thick cover of fog for the second day today, with over 50 flights and 50 trains affected.
Many accidents and huge traffic jams have also been reported from across the city.
The situation, however, slightly improved towards noon as visibility improved and flights and train schedules slowly recovered.
The fog which descended on the capital on Wednesday night remained for the better part of the day on Thursday and was back again on Friday, hitting air, rail and road travel.
The Met office has predicted that its density and duration will increase.
With visibility on the runway reduced to less than 100 meters in the morning, there were major disruptions in flight and train schedules. Seven domestic flights were cancelled and 39 others were delayed. Two international flights were cancelled and 14 were delayed.
The runway visibility started to drop late Thursday night when fog started to descend on the airport. The general visibility dipped to zero while the runway visibility hovered between 50 to 100 meters, forcing the airport authorities to implement low visibility procedures for flights to operate using CAT-III B instrument landing system (ILS).
Though some landing took place using CAT-III B ILS, which helps an aircraft to land when the runway visibility is around 50 meters, departure of flights started only in the morning when the runway visibility increased to over 100 meters.
According to an airport official, departures would become normal only when the visibility increases to 350 meters.
Train services were also hit with over 50 trains being cancelled. Passengers were stranded in the three major stations in the capital - New Delhi, Old Delhi and Nizamuddin.
International flights cancelled
BA143 London/Heathrow
BA142 London/Heathrow
Domestic arrival delayed
IT4316 Jaipur
9W2278 Kolkata
S2106 Mumbai
SG208 Chennai
6E134 Pune
9W301 Mumbai
9W2327 Chennai
IC410 Patna
Domestic departure delayed
IT4375 Jabalpur
IT3651 Lucknow
S2101 Mumbai
SG217 Pune
9W2257 Hyderabad
IT4315 Jaipur
9W801 Bangalore
S2108 Srinagar
9W2253 Chennai
IT4349 Shimla
IC506 Bangalore
9W2213 Raipur
S26171 Aurangabad
S2319 Port Blair
9W2251 Chennai
SG301 Chennai
IT4357 Kullu
S2107 Goa
9W2280 Bagdogra
9W336 Trivandram
SG208 Kolkata
S2391 Dibrugarh
IC406 Khajuraho
SG851 Srinagar
S2241 Cochin
IT4305 Jaipur
9W2279 Kolkata
IT231 Khajuraho
9W302 Mumbai
International arrivals delayed
AI311 Hong Kong
9W63 Suvarnabhumi
TK1070 Istanbul
GF130 Bahrain
9W271 Dhaka
9W581 Abu Dhabi
BA257 London/Heathrow
TG323 Suvarnabhumi
AI112 London/Heathrow
International departure delayed
AI310 Hong Kong
IX143 Doha International
BA256 London/Heathrow
HY422 Yuzhny
9W264 Kathmandu
Trains cancelled on Friday:
Nauchandi Express
Rohtak-New Delhi Express
New Delhi-Rohtak Express
Unchahar Express
Garhwal Express
New Delhi-Jalandhar Express
Ambala-Amritsar Express
Shane-e-Punjab Express
Delhi-Jind express
Gomti Express (Delhi to Lucknow)
Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi Express
Amritsar-New Delhi Express
Trains cancelled till January 31:
New Delhi-Sitamarhi Lichchvi Express
Lucknow-Saharanpur Express
Katihar-Amritsar Express
Jhansi-Lucknow Intercity
Gaya-New Delhi Mahabodhi Express
Amritsar-Howrah Express
Some of the important trains which are running late:
Patna Rajdhani, delayed by 10 hours
Sampurna Kranti (Patna to New Delhi), delayed by 12 hours
Shramjivi Express, delayed by six hours
Kashi-Vishwanath Express, delayed by five hours
Lucknow Shatabdi, delayed by nine hours
Trains which have been rescheduled due to bad weather: