Delhi wakes up to biting cold as mercury drops to 2.9°C, IMD issues cold wave alert

DELHI residents woke up to biting cold on Sunday morning as mercury dropped to a low of 2.9 degrees Celsius in Ayanagar while Palam recorded a minimum temperature of 3 degrees Celsius. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data, Safdarjung, the primary weather monitoring station of Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 4.8 degrees Celsius.

The weather office issued a 'yellow' alert for a cold wave, even though the 4.8 degrees Celsius minimum temperature is 2.6 degrees above the seasonal average.

Meanwhile, the Ridge area registered 3.7 degrees Celsius minimum temperature while Lodhi Road reported 4.6-degree Celsius temperature. The minimum and maximum temperature is expected to be 1.6 to 3 degrees Celsius below normal today.

IMD's forecast states, “Mainly clear sky. Cold wave conditions at isolated places. Moderate fog at many places with dense fog at isolated places during morning hours. The maximum and minimum temperatures in Delhi are likely to be in the ranges of 16°C to 18°C and 3°C to 5°C, respectively.” Notably, relative humidity in the national capital stood at 97 per cent at 8.30 am.

The yellow warning for cold wave will remain intact for Monday, 12 January. The regional weather office in a post on X said, “Cold Wave Conditions realized over Delhi as Palam, Ridge and Ayanagar reported Minimum Temperatures less than 4.1 degree Centigrade.”

Predicting cold wave conditions in neighbouring states, IMD in its latest weather bulletin said, “Cold wave to Severe Cold wave conditions very likely in isolated pockets of Rajasthan on 12th & 13th and cold wave conditions very likely in isolated pockets of Rajasthan during 11th to 14th, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana Chandigarh & Delhi, Odisha on 11th & 12th; Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and North Interior Karnataka on 11th January.”

Delhi AQI today

Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) was logged at 290, in the "poor" category, at 10:30 am, as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. Out of 39 monitoring stations, 19 reported ‘very poor’ air quality. Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport registered the best AQI today at 191, falling in ‘moderate’ range, while the remaining 19 stations registered ‘poor’ air quality.

According to the Decision Support System (DSS) data of Pune's Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), vehicular emissions were the primary contributor to Delhi's pollution load at 13.8 per cent.

Delhi and peripheral industries accounted for 10.9 per cent pollution load, followed by 3.4 per cent residential emissions. Other local sources, such as waste burning, contributed 1.2 per cent to Delhi's pollution load, construction activities at 1.8 per cent and road dust at 0.93 per cent.