On another cold morning In Delhi, 18 trains running late, flights affected

People in the national capital woke up to a foggy morning on Thursday as the minimum temperature settled at 6.6 degrees Celsius, one notch below the season's average. The air quality continued to remain in the 'very poor' category.

Due to low visibility, 18 New Delhi-bound trains were running late. The Puri-Nizamuddin Purushottam Express was delayed by six hours, while three trains --Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Ambedkarnagar-Katra and Muzaffarpur-Anandvihar -- were running late by around 3-3.45 hours.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the IGI Airport experienced dense fog with visibility ranging from 50-100 metres between 12.30 am and 6.30 am. Later, it improved and currently, the visibility is 300 metres.

Several flight operations were delayed at the Delhi Airport due to low visibility. Many passengers were seen waiting for the movement of their scheduled flights.

“I have come from Bahrain. My flight was delayed by one hour,” a passenger told ANI.

In Delhi, the weather department has issued a yellow alert for moderate to dense fog at isolated places for the next two days.

Meanwhile, the maximum temperature in the city is expected to hover around 18 degrees Celsius on Thursday.

The overall Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi stood at 319 at 10 am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

As per the CPCB data, the AQI stood at 363 in Anand Vihar, 296 in Ashok Vihar, 371 in Bawana, 296 at IGI Airport, 346 at ITO, 281 at Lodhi Road, 290 in Najafgarh, 377 in Narela, 315 in New Moti Bagh, 314 in Patparganj, 356 in Punjabi Bagh, 349 in RK Puram, 362 in Rohini, 338 in Sonia Vihar and 341 in Vivek Vihar.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered good, 51 and 100 satisfactory, 101 and 200 moderate, 201 and 300 poor, 301 and 400 very poor, and 401 and 500 severe.

Besides Delhi, rail traffic was also affected in several cities in North and North-East India due to low visibility.

Satellite images showed some reduction in fog over Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, but dense to very dense fog prevailed in parts of Punjab, Haryana, west Rajasthan, Bihar, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Assam.

The visibility levels stood at 25 metres in cities like Patiala, Amritsar, Ambala, Hisar, Bikaner and Purnia and 50 metres in Churu, Ganganagar, Jhansi, Ranchi, Paradeep and Lakhimpur at 5:30 am.