NEW DELHI: The weather department has sounded a red
alert
for very
dense fog
on Friday and experts have requested people not to venture out in their vehicles between 4 am and 10 am, unless it is unavoidable.
When
fog
causes visibility to drop below 50 metres, it is categorised as very dense fog. The red alert, which is the highest level of warning, is rarely used. The warning for Friday is primarily for deterring people from venturing out as the 4 am to 10 am time window could lead to car pile-ups and deaths on the road in Delhi-NCR, which have already been reported since the fog thickened in the last three days.
By 10 pm on Thursday, several parts of Delhi-NCR were enveloped in a thick fog.
On Thursday, the capital saw a slight improvement in some places. Palam had a visibility of 50 metres and Safdarjung 200 metres in the morning and it improved as the day rolled on. However, Aya Nagar remained covered under very dense fog around 8.30am.
“The reason the fog situation saw some improvement on Thursday was due to overnight winds in several areas. The wind speed on Wednesday night reached up to 8 kmph, so the fog dissipated. However, on Friday the wind speed will drop,” Kuldeep Srivastava, a scientist with India Meteorological Department (
IMD
), said, explaining why experts expect very dense fog on Friday morning.
“We have issued the
red warning
for Friday, suggesting that the time between 4am to 10am could see accidents as visibility will be very low. So, unless it’s very essential, do not take out your vehicle at this time,” Srivastava said. For Saturday, the IMD has issued an orange alert for dense to moderate fog.
Delhi’s base station at Safdarjung recorded at 21.4 degrees Celsius as the maximum, a notch above normal and against 22 degrees Celsius a day earlier. The minimum temperature was 8.4 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal. On Wednesday, it was 7.8 degrees Celsius.
The maximum and minimum temperature is likely to hover around 21 degrees Celsius and 7 degrees Celsius on Friday.
The air quality index (AQI) of the capital remained very poor at 358 at 4 pm. The average AQI was 350, against 380 on Wednesday. According to the air quality early warning system, the AQI is likely to be in the very poor range from Friday to Sunday too.
“Weather conditions are not favourable for effective dispersion of pollutants. Emissions from firecrackers if burnt on December 31 will further deteriorate air quality… The predominant surface wind is likely to be from the east-southeast direction in Delhi-NCR with wind speed of 6-4 kmph with partly cloudy sky with dense to very dense fog at most places in the morning on December 29,” the IITM’s air quality early warning system has predicted.
Meanwhile, the region’s air quality on Thursday improved marginally but remained in the ‘very poor’ category. Noida recorded an AQI of 351 against 385 a day ago, and Greater Noida had 360 against 353 on Wednesday. Ghaziabad’s AQI also improved slightly at 318 against 362 on Wednesday. As per a SAFAR bulletin, the air quality is likely to remain in the ‘very poor’ category on Friday.
Watch Delhiites wake up to thick layer of fog, mercury dips further
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