Poor visibility delays flights, trains

The local Met department said there would be a moderate to dense fog in the morning and evening in the next few days and the temperature will also fall gradually. “There would be a moderate to dense fog in the city over the next 48-72 hours,” Met department Director Surender Paul told Chandigarh Newsline.

Officials said though normal visibility was around 5,000 metres, the fog brought it down to 200-500 metres on Wednesday. “Mainly clear sky. Moderate fog likely during evening/morning,” said the Met department in its Wednesday bulletin. “Very dense fog likely at a few places during the next three days in Haryana and Punjab,” it added.

According to the airport authorities, the first flight arrived at 10.30 am instead of 7.25 am. Deepesh Joshi, PRO Chandigarh airport, said four flights (two arrivals and two departures) were cancelled on Wednesday and eight others delayed by three hours due to the bad weather.

Joshi said the flights that got delayed were SpiceJet (130) Srinagar, Spice Jet (253) Delhi, SpiceJet (2831/2834) Delhi, Indigo (6E 545/455) Delhi, Air India (463/464) Delhi. Four AI flights (AI 814-Pune/642 Mumbai) and AI (831/832) Delhi were cancelled due to runway Notam and bad weather at Chandigarh airport.

Also, several trains were delayed by the fog, said Dinesh Sharma, the DRM of Ambala Division. According to officials, the Shatabdis, plying between Chandigarh and Delhi, ran on time, but the New Delhi-Chandigarh Kalka Shatabdi was delayed by 30 minutes.

The maximum temperature on Wednesday was 18.2 degree Celsius, which is 4 degree Celsius lower than the normal day temperature. The night temperature was 12.6 degree Celsius that is 6 degree Celsius higher than the normal minimum.

Officials said the day temperature would see a slight rise in the coming days and night temperature would decline. The temperature was predicted to be 20 degree Celsius on Wednesday.