Delhi: Severe Cold Wave On Jan 1, Lowest In 15 years

A severe cold wave swept Delhi on January 1 as the mercury plummeted to 1.1 degrees Celsius, the lowest in 15 years, and "very dense" fog lowered visibility to "zero" meters, affecting traffic movement.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that cold wave conditions are likely to persist in isolated places over Delhi during next 2 days,

"On January 8, 2006, the city had recorded a minimum of 0.2 degree Celsius. The lowest minimum temperature recorded in January last year was 2.4 degrees Celsius",IMD said.

Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD's regional forecasting centre, said "very dense" fog lowered visibility to "zero" metres at Safdarjung and Palam at 6 am.

According to the IMD, "very dense" fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres. In case of "dense" fog, visibility is between 51 and 200 metres, "moderate" 201 and 500 metres, and "shallow" 501 and 1,000 metres.

Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) also remained between the 'very poor' to 'severe' category on Friday morning. The national capital's overall AQI stands at 332 said Ministry of Earth Science's System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) the India.com reported.