At 1.1 Degrees, Delhi Records Coldest New Year's Day In 15 Years

Dense fog and numbing cold gripped Delhi on New Year's Day as the mercury plummeted to 1.1 degrees celsius, the lowest in 15 years. The minimum of 1.1 degrees celsius was recorded by the Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative data for the city, the weather department said.

On January 8, 2006, the city had recorded a minimum of 0.2 degree celsius.

The lowest minimum temperature recorded in January last year was 2.4 degrees celsius, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD's regional forecasting centre, told NDTV that "very dense" fog lowered visibility to "zero" metres at Safdarjung and Palam at 6 am. Mr Srivastava said the minimum temperature will start rising from tomorrow under the influence of an "intense" western disturbance which will affect northwest India from January 2 to January 6. The minimum temperature is predicted to rise to 8 degrees Celsius by January 4-5.

"The minimum temperature of 1.1 degrees Celsius is the coldest in 15 years. In 2006, the temperature dipped to 0.2 degrees celsius. Cold wave conditions will persist today but the temperature will rise from tomorrow," Mr Srivastava said.

According to the IMD, "very dense" fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres. In case of "dense" fog, visibility is between 51 and 200 metres, "moderate" 201 and 500 metres, and "shallow" 501 and 1,000 metres.

Delhi recorded a minimum of 3.3 degrees celsius on Thursday. At 15.2 degrees celsius, the city recorded the season's lowest maximum temperature on December 18.

With inputs from PTI