50 flights canceled, train timings also changed; Severe cold will continue in North India, alert issued for UP-Bihar

Dense fog and extreme cold once again disrupted life across the entire North India on Sunday. Delhi and NCR also remained shrouded in fog for three and a half hours on Sunday morning due to which visibility became zero in most areas. Air services and railways were affected due to it.

Flights were affected due to zero visibility at Delhi's IGI Airport from 4 am to 7.30 am. On Sunday, Delhi's minimum temperature was 9.4 degrees Celsius, three degrees above normal. Due to fog, flights had to be canceled and delayed at many airports including Srinagar, Patna, and Darbhanga.

Apart from this, the fog disrupted the rail traffic as well. More than 50 passenger trains, including Vande Bharat and Rajdhani, were stopped and reached late by many hours. The poor visibility led to vehicles crawling on national highways and expressways.

Meanwhile, snowfall has started once again in the mountains in the hilly states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal, and Uttarakhand. All 50 flights at Srinagar International Airport were canceled on Sunday due to poor visibility due to dense fog in Jammu and Kashmir. The Meteorological Department has predicted heavy snowfall in the high mountain areas of Jammu division including Kashmir on Monday and Tuesday.

The temperature in Kokernag of the valley was minus 8.1 degrees Celsius on Saturday night. It was the coldest place in Kashmir. After bright sunshine on Sunday in Uttarakhand, the weather may change once again on Monday. There is a possibility of cloudy weather in the lower areas, light rain in some places, and snowfall in areas above 3,000 meters.

Due to changes in weather, the temperature is expected to decrease by three to five degrees Celsius. In Himachal, light snowfall occurred on Sunday in Rohtang and high peaks Baralacha and Shinkula. Clouds remained in Manali Lahaul Spiti and other places. On Sunday, the maximum temperature increased in some places, while some places recorded a drop of about six degrees.

The Meteorological Department has issued an orange alert for snowfall in high areas and rain in lower areas in the state on January 6. Fog in the morning and hailstorm in the evening in Punjab. Fog troubled people on Sunday morning in Punjab as well, although there was relief due to sunshine throughout the day. Meanwhile, rain and hailstorms occurred in some districts of the state as soon as evening fell.

According to the Meteorological Department, rain and hailstorms may occur in many districts of the state on Monday as well. The department has issued a yellow alert. Delhi flight arrived one hour late at Amritsar airport due to morning fog. On the other hand, Narnaul in Haryana remained the coldest place in the state for the second day with a minimum temperature of 6.8 degrees Celsius. There was dense fog in many places in Haryana in the morning.

The effect of fog and cold remained. The effect of dense fog remained in many districts of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday too. Because of this, visibility was very low at Varanasi airport including Lucknow, and flights were being delayed. The minimum temperature in Etawah at night was 5.5 degrees Celsius. The night here was the coldest in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

The Meteorological Department said cold day conditions may prevail in most parts of the state on January 6 also. Light rain is likely to occur in western Uttar Pradesh. Dry weather will continue over eastern Uttar Pradesh. Now coming to Bihar, the cold day conditions will affect the state for the next two days. Among them, Motihari was the coldest city in the state, which recorded a minimum temperature of 6.7 degrees Celsius on Sunday. Due to fog, the visibility at Patna airport was not even 900 meters on Sunday. Due to this, the operation of the aircraft started after 12.30 pm. Due to bad weather, a flight of 16 aircraft was canceled from Patna and Darbhanga airports.