Thick fog engulfs Delhi, reducing visibility to zero

Several areas of the national capital recorded zero visibility after dense fog blanketed the city on Friday the weather department saidThe India Meteorological Department IMD has predicted similar conditions in the coming days for Delhi news agency PTI reportedMeanwhile the city recorded the Air Quality Index AQI at 371 falling in the very poor category with 10 monitoring stations entering the severe category as readings rose above 400 data from the Central Pollution Control Board CPCB revealedAccording to PTI these stations included Jahangirpuri Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium Nehru Nagar Okhla Phase 2 Patparganj Punjabi Bagh and others The remaining stations fell under the very poor categoryOn Thursday the AQI stood at 318An 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 severeMeanwhile the maximum temperature in the city settled at 212 degrees Celsius 19 degrees above average while the minimum temperature was recorded at 7 degrees Celsius IMD said adding that the relative humidity during the day ranged between 74 and 100 percentMore than 100 flights were delayed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Friday morning as visibility dropped to zero until 930 am in some areas owing to dense fog PTI reportedIt said all runways are operating under CATIII which allows aircraft to operate in low visibility conditionsAn official said despite the delay there are no diversions at the airport so farWhile landing and takeoffs continue at Delhi airport flights that are not CATIII compliant may be affected Passengers are requested to contact their respective airlines for updated flight information Any inconvenience caused is deeply regretted Delhi International Airport Ltd DIAL said in a post on X at 635 amThe weather office has predicted a partly cloudy sky for Saturday with predominant surface winds from the northwest at speeds of less than 4 kmph in the morningModerate fog and smog are expected in most areas with dense fog in isolated places during the morning Wind speeds are likely to increase to 46 kmph in the afternoon before decreasing to less than 4 kmph from the southwest direction in the evening and nightSmog and shallow to moderate fog are also expected during the evening and night hours it saidThe maximum and minimum temperatures on Saturday are expected to settle at 21 and 8 degrees Celsius respectivelyWith PTI inputs