IMD Satellite imagery shows dense fog blanket over Northern India

The satellite image taken at 1430 hrs (IST), showed a fog layer continuing over Punjab, Haryana, extreme north Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and northwest Madhya Pradesh

New Delhi: An INSAT (Indian National Satellite System) imagery released by the Met department on Thursday depicted fog hovering over the North India region.

The satellite image taken at 1430 hrs (IST), showed a fog layer continuing over Punjab, Haryana, extreme north Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and northwest Madhya Pradesh.

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According to the Met Department, the visibility recorded at 5:30 AM today was, (<=500 meters): Punjab: Amritsar-50, Ludhiana-200; Haryana: Ambala-500; Uttar Pradesh: Bahraich, Lucknow, Sultanpur, Varanasi-500 each. Delhi-Safdarjung-500.

On Thursday morning, several regions of North India, including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, were engulfed in a thick layer of fog, causing low visibility and leading to traffic disruptions and accidents.

IMD warned of a dense fog warning over Haryana, Punjab for the next 5 days in a post on X.

In Uttar Pradesh, IMD predicted dense fog for the next 3 days. The UP State Road Transport Corporation issues guidelines for fog and restricted bus operations in low visibility conditions.

UPSRTC officials said that buses should not operate in cases of poor visibility due to fog. The corporation also advised operators to park buses at safe locations and wait until visibility improved.

Meanwhile, 134 flights were delayed, and 22 trains were running late as dense fog gripped Delhi. The weather office also stated that the visibility at Delhi-Palam Airport dropped from 100 metres at 2130 IST to 50 metres at 2200 IST on Wednesday.

The Delhi Airport Authority has issued an advisory stating that while landing and takeoffs continue, flights not compliant with CAT III (category III) standards may face disruptions.

The cold weather conditions, however, did not deter a group of bikers from venturing out on Kartavya Path early in the morning on Thursday.

“It is foggy and cold. Yet cycling is most fun in this season…It is important to get out. Whatever dreams we see in our beds will come true only when we get out,” one of the bikers said.

The IMD also warned of possible health impacts on people due to the dense fog in the national capital.

“Dense fog contains particulate matter and other pollutants and in case exposed it gets lodged in the lungs, clogging them and decreasing their functional capacity.”