At 2.7°C, Gurgaon unable to shake off the cold, fog leads to snarls

After a two-day relief, the city was back in grip of the cold on Wednesday as the minimum temperature dropped to 2.7 degrees Celsius, almost 3 degrees lower than Tuesday. The dense fog that blanketed the city reduced visibility to 50 metres, hampering the daily routine of officegoers and students. The Traffic police reported six minor accidents across the city in the morning.

The maximum temperature on Wedesday was 18 degrees Celsius the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The minimum temperature on Tuesday was 5.3 degrees Celsius and the maximum temperature was 18 degrees Celsius.

The Met department attributed the fall in temperature to heavy snowfall in the Himalayan region.

“Heavy snowfall in Himalayan region has lead to extreme cold conditions in the northern region. The condition may persist till February. Also, the region is expected to get light showers by the weekend. The western disturbance is currently moving towards Rajasthan and neighbouring states and it will bring in a cold spell into the region,” an IMD official said.

IMD officials said the dense fog is expected to persist till next week and advised commuters to drive cautiously to avoid accidents.

There was no sunshine till 9 am and most vehicles on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway had their fog lights on.

Traffic police said the six minor accidents that took place across the city included a Maruti Suzuki Ertiga ramming a WagonR on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway.

Traffic was slow on Old Delhi-Gurgaon Road and Golf Course Road and at Iffco Chowk and Rajiv Chowk where repairs, road widening, and underpasses projects are in progress. Commuters were caught up for 15 to 20 minutes at these areas.

“I leave home around 8 am to reach my office at CyberHub by 8.30 am. Anticipating delay because of heavy fog, I left home 15 minutes early. Yet, I reached office late around 8.45 am. The visibility was poor and vehicles were moving at a snail’s pace with hazards lights on,” Balbir Balhara of Sector 54 said.

The visibility on Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road was also low.

“My office is at Nehru Place, Delhi, and it takes around 90 minutes to reach there. Today (Wednesday), the visibility was so poor that it took me nearly half an hour to cross Gurgaon and took over two hours to reach office. On my way, several vehicles had met with accidents, blocking traffic until they were moved by cranes,” Arshi Alam of sector 30 said.