Residents of Gurgaon began their Monday shrouded in a thick layer of dense fog, which significantly reduced visibility and slowed morning traffic to a crawl. The city's skyline disappeared into a white haze, forcing vehicles to use headlights well into the late morning. The persistent fog finally began to lift only after 12:30 pm, bringing some relief.
IMD's Fog Alert and Weather Forecast
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued a dense fog alert for the city on December 30, cautioning about sharply dropping visibility during late-night and early-morning hours. A district-wise advisory on Monday stated that several parts of Haryana, including the southern regions, are likely to experience dense to very dense fog over the next two days.
While the fog intensity is predicted to reduce from December 31 to January 1, isolated pockets may still witness dense conditions. The IMD linked the current weather to an approaching western disturbance over the western Himalayan region from December 30 to January 1. This system is also expected to bring light to moderate rainfall to parts of Haryana, including Gurgaon and Chandigarh, on December 31 and January 1 before tapering off.
Temperature Fluctuations and Travel Impact
On Monday, Gurgaon recorded a minimum temperature of 9.6°C, which was 2.2°C higher than Sunday. However, the maximum temperature settled at 16.6°C, marking a drop of about 3.6°C from the previous day. The met department forecasts that minimum temperatures will rise by 2°C to 3°C over the next three days before falling again by a similar margin. Day temperatures are also likely to dip over the next three to four days.
The IMD has explicitly cautioned that the dense fog may severely disrupt road traffic and affect flight and train operations due to poor visibility, advising commuters to exercise caution.
Delhi Paralyzed, Flight Operations Hit
The national capital, Delhi, faced an even grimmer situation, engulfed in a thick blanket of fog that reduced visibility to as low as 50 metres. The dense fog persisted for seven hours, making it the second-longest spell of the season after December 19, when it lasted eight and a half hours. Calm winds and the gloomy weather also trapped pollutants, keeping the air quality in the severe zone.
Delhi's minimum temperature was 8.3 degrees Celsius (two notches above normal), with a maximum of 20.3 degrees Celsius. The low visibility caused major travel chaos:
- At least 130 flights were cancelled at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.
- Eight flights were diverted to alternative airports.
- Over 550 flights experienced delays.
Road transport on major highways and expressways across the Indo-Gangetic plain was also severely affected due to very low visibility from late night through the early morning hours.
