The dense fog enveloping northern and western India today hit air and rail traffic with more than a dozen flights being delayed at Jaipur international airport and several trains running behind schedule in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Flights arriving - from Mumbai and Delhi - at the Jaipur airport were delayed by more than an hour before noon. Tweleve flights departing from the airport were delayed too.
Delhi witnessed a chilly day as the maximum temperature dipped to 18.5 degrees Celsius, two notches below the normal. Foggy weather during morning hours delayed nearly 70 trains, another 34 were rescheduled.
Visibility at Palam airport was recorded at 300 metres early today but improved later in the morning by 100 metres.
The situation was similar in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where people have been witnessing chilly weather condition for some time now.
The Patna Meteorological Centre has forecast that people across Bihar are likely to battle cold weather through the New Year due to chilly wind coming from Kashmir and Himachal, where thousands of tourists have thronged to witness snowfall likely to occur on December 31. The lowest temperature of 8 degrees Celsius was recorded at Sabour in Bhagalpur district.
Himachal's weather department has forecast snowfall or rainfall in mid and higher hills tomorrow. The minimum temperatures oscillated between minus 8.0 and minus 13.0 degrees Celsius in the high-altitude tribal areas. The minimum temperature in the picturesque Manali was 0.4 degree.
The prevailing dry spell in Kashmir, the longest in nearly four decades, is likely to end next week as the Met department in the state has forecast a spell of rain or snow in the Valley where night temperatures dipped once again.
Kashmir has been witnessing dry spell for 35 to 40 years. There has been negligible rainfall in past five months, Met department officials said.
Srinagar's night temperature was recorded at minus 4.3, while it was minus 3.4 degrees Celsius in Pahalgam hill resort and it was a low of zero in famous ski-resort of Gulmarg.
Sikar was the coldest place in Rajasthan with a minimum temperature of 6.5 degrees Celsius, followed by Churu (7.5C).
Haryana's Narnaul was the coldest place in the state at 4.6 degrees Celsius, a notch below the normal.
In cities of the country minimum temperatures were recorded at 12.8 in Ahmedabad; 14.8 in Bengaluru; 15.9 in Kolkata; 0.0 in Madurai; 0.0 in Nagpur; 9.4 in Pune; 21.5 in Mumbai.
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