TNI Bureau: The National Capital, Delhi yesterday witnessed its coldest day of January in the past 44 years, with the maximum temperature dipping to 9.8 degree Celsius 11 notches below the average for the season, while the minimum was 4.8 degrees – two notches below average.
Delhiites continued to shiver as a bone chilling cold settled over the city and the minimum temperature settled three notches below average at 4.4 degrees Celsius on Thursday morning.
The India Meteorological Department has forecast a clear, sunny afternoon. However, the evening will be chilly accompanied by icy winds. The maximum temperature is expected to hover around the 13 degrees Celsius mark.
As the temperatures plunged to bone-chilling levels in the capital, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday said the homeless needed to protected from the extreme cold and directed the Delhi government to open more temporary night shelters apart from the existing 154.
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Delhites, however, are also extending their helping hand by providing winter clothes to the needy.
In addition to severe cold wave, dense fog around Delhi affected Rail, road and air traffic in the city badly.
Visibility on the main runways at the Indira Gandhi International Airport was around 50 metres. More than 30 flights were delayed while seven flights were cancelled.
Today about 33 trains, reaching Delhi, are running late. They are late by 2 hours to 10 or 14 hours. As many as Ten trains have been cancelled.
The cold snap has also been sweeping through many parts of the northern states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.