Visibility dips to zero in several areas as Delhi records lowest minimum temperature of the season

Monday morning, however, is expected to be cold, with the minimum temperature expected to be around 4 degrees Celsius. Dense to very dense fog is also expected in the morning.

Schools for students up to Class 8 in Noida, meanwhile, will remain shut till Tuesday. Schools in Delhi and Gurgaon, however, will reopen on Monday, after extensions were earlier given in the winter break because of the cold.

In Delhi, however, no school will be allowed to open for students before 9 am or have classes past 5 pm. Teaching and non-teaching staff, though, have to report for duty at the usual time.

Longest dense fog episode
The visibility at Palam and Safdarjung stations dipped to zero at 5 am and remained so till 8.30 am. Hisar in Haryana also saw visibility dipping to zero.

“This is the first time this winter season that zero visibility is being reported from Amritsar to Dibrugarh across Ganganagar, Patiala, Ambala, Chandigarh, Palam, Safdarjung, Bareilly, Lucknow, Bahraich, Varanasi, Prayagraj and Tezpur (Assam)… The fog cover extends over an area of more than 10 lakh square kilometres and a linear distance of 2,350 kms – from Amritsar to Dibrugarh,” said a senior India Meteorological Department (IMD) official.

An orange alert was issued for Delhi, with the IMD and the Delhi Airport Authority urging all passengers to check timings of flights and trains with their respective airlines and the Indian Railways.

On X, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) issued a warning to passengers, asking them to contact their airlines for updated information.

According to the Delhi Airport website, scores of flights were affected because of the fog.

According to Flightradar24, an online portal that tracks flights in real time around the world using satellite information, over 700 flights were delayed (arrival and departure both) and around 100 were cancelled.