Bring out the layers again as chill makes a comeback in Chandigarh

Hold on to sweaters and jackets as the winter chill isn’t quite done with the city yet!

After a brief warm spell this week, the biting weather has made a comeback, with the chill set to intensify further this weekend and the coming week, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Residents felt the cold on Friday, as amid overcast weather conditions, the maximum temperature dropped from Thursday’s 18.5°C to 15.4°C, 0.8 degree below normal.

This made Chandigarh colder than several hill stations, including Shimla (17°C), Kasauli (15.6°C) and Dharamshala (22°C).

IMD Chandigarh director Surender Paul attributed the sudden chill to fog formation, which persisted throughout Friday. “Fog forms on the ground here and rises into the air, blocking the sunlight needed for warmer weather. In the hills, where sunlight is more direct, we don’t see the same effect,” he explained.

As fog descended on the city, visibility went down to 200 metres at the Chandigarh airport at 8.30 am. Visibility at 200 metres or below is considered as “dense fog” by IMD.

Amid the overcast skies, the minimum temperature rose slightly from 6.1°C on Thursday to 6.8°C on Friday, 0.3 degrees above normal. This was as cold as Shimla, where also the minimum temperature was 6.8°C.

Rain on the cards today

The onset of fog is related to increasing moisture in the air, as per Paul, due to an incoming Western Disturbance (WD). “There is a chance of rain in the city on Saturday. Even in the coming days cloudy weather is likely to continue that will keep the day temperature low,” he said.

IMD has forecast a chance of snowfall in the hilly reaches of Himachal Pradesh that will lead to chilly winds in Chandigarh in the coming days.

While the WD is likely to keep fog from forming here, once the system weakens, hazy conditions will return from Monday, which, combined with the chilly winds, will intensify winter’s grip.

Chandigarh second most polluted city in country after Delhi

The prevailing fog conditions caused the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) to shoot up to 361 (very poor), second only to Delhi (397) out of 235 cities where readings were taken by the Central Pollution Control Board on Friday.

The city had last recorded very poor air quality on January 3, when the AQI had gone up to 312. As per the Central Pollution Control Board, an AQI between 301-400 can cause respiratory illness on prolonged exposure.

Paul explained that temperature inversion together with fog caused the AQI to shoot up. “n colder temperatures, the air gets contracted into a sort of dome with less space for the pollutants to get dispersed. Fog further compounds this. However, any rain on Saturday is likely to improve the air quality,” he shared.

Fog grounds air travel: 11 flights cancelled, 21 delayed

Fog caused major disruptions in flight operations at Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport as 11 flights were cancelled and 21 flights faced delayed arrivals and departures.

Among the cancelled flights, five were to depart for Delhi, Jammu, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Pune, while six were to arrive from Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.

Eight flights arriving from Delhi, Goa, Lucknow, Kolkata, Mumbai and Srinagar were delayed by 40 minutes to one hour. Another 13 flights set to take off for Delhi, Goa, Lucknow, Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Srinagar were also held up for 40 minutes to two hours.

The morning New Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi Express was also delayed by 1 hour and 23 minutes at the Chandigarh railway station. Similarly, the Ajmer-Chandigarh Vande Bharat Express arrived in the city 29 minutes late.