Weather today: The IMD issued orange and yellow alerts for various regions, predicting cold wave and fog conditions. Dense fog on Sunday caused several flight cancellations and continues to impact operations.
Dense fog enveloped Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh Monday early morning, reducing visibility to few metres. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange alert fort East Uttar Pradesh as it warned of dense fog and cold wave conditions today while western areas of the state are on yellow alert. The national capital is also on IMD’s yellow alert today.
IMD in a post on X stated, “Dense to very dense fog is expected during night and morning hours across parts of East Uttar Pradesh (till 23rd) and Punjab, Haryana, West Uttar Pradesh & North Madhya Pradesh (till 22nd). Bihar, Jharkhand & interior Odisha may experience dense fog till 24th December.”
On Sunday, cold day conditions and fog outlined the weather conditions in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana while snowfall in higher stretches of Jammu and Kashmir marked the beginning of ‘Chillai-Kalan’ — the 40-day harshest winter period that will conclude on January 30. The sudden cold wave can be attributed to Western Disturbance and presence of subtropical westerly jet stream over north India.
The weather agency predicted heavy rainfall, snowfall and snowstorm for Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh with reduced visibility, less than 400 metres. Meanwhile, Uttarakhand can brace for “scattered rainfall/snowfall” until 24 December. IMD warned against cold wave conditions in Karnataka and Telangana on 22 and 23 December.