Delhi experienced its first cold wave of the season on Saturday and recorded its coldest December day this year as the maximum temperature dropped to 16.9 degrees Celsius, 5.3 degrees below normal.
The sun remained largely obscured by thick clouds and a lingering gray haze throughout the day.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Delhi met the criteria for a “cold wave day” for the first time this winter, with two of its five monitoring stations – “Safdarjung and Palam -” recording cold wave conditions.
While Safdarjung station recorded a maximum temperature of 16.9 degrees Celsius, 5.3 degrees below the season’s normal, Palam, another key monitoring station, recorded a maximum temperature of 16.3 degrees Celsius, 5.6 degrees below normal.
The IMD declares cold wave conditions when the negative deviation from the normal maximum temperature is between 4.5 and 6.4 degrees Celsius.
In comparison, the lowest maximum temperature recorded in December 2024 was 14.6 degrees Celsius, 15.9 degrees in 2023 and 15.6 degrees in 2022, according to IMD data.
Meanwhile, the minimum temperature was recorded at 6.1 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal, the IMD said.
Visibility was severely reduced Saturday morning. The visibility recorded at Safdarjung at 8:30 am was 200 meters and at Palam 350 meters. It later improved to 400 meters at Safdarjung and 600 meters at Palam at 12.30 pm.
Shallow to moderate fog hovered over most parts of the city throughout the day, with visibility ranging from 400 to 600 meters by 12:30 p.m.
The Meteorological Office predicted dense to very dense fog for Sunday and issued an orange warning for the capital. The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to settle around 23 degrees Celsius and 9 degrees Celsius respectively.
