IGI airport witnesses worst smog cover in three days

Dr R K Jenamani, head of the IGI airport MeT office, said the next two days will see severe smog with moderate fog during the night.

On Tuesday in particular, Dr Jenamani said the fog is likely to intensify.

“There is a likelihood of slight intensification of fog coverage on the morning of December 1. Visibility may reduce to 100 m for three to four hours. However, from the afternoon of December 2 or by December 3, we expect to see an improvement in the weather,” he said.

According to the MeT office, a low night temperature that hovered between 15 and 17 degrees, persistent high smoke, no wind and high moisture levels over the last 48 hours in Delhi lead to accumulation of particulate matter.

“All of this finally contributed to dense fog formation at IGI Airport between 6 and 8 am Monday,” said Dr Jenamani.

He said higher night time temperatures did not allow the fog to intensify further.

“What was interesting was that the humidity was very high (between 95 and 100 per cent) from 1 am to 10 am Monday. The meteorological department is critically monitoring this development on an hourly basis to find if high content of moisture leads to an early triggering of dense fog that lasts for long durations,” said Dr Jenamani.