The residents of Delhi on Tuesday once again woke to dense fog and bone-chilling cold that also hit flight and rail operations, leaving thousands of passengers waiting for hours at the airport and railway stations.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the city’s Palam(VIDP) and Safdarjung Airports recorded visibilities within 500 metres in the morning, while around 30 flights departing from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) were delayed, and 17 flights were cancelled due to low visibility amid dense fog, news agency ANI reported citing the airport officials.

The weather agency said a fog patch can be seen over the northern and north-eastern states with low visibility areas recorded in the airports situated in these states.

“Layer of fog is seen from Punjab to northeast India across Haryana, North MP, UP, Bihar and West Bengal at 0530 hrs IST. The patches of fog are also seen along the east coast of India as shown in the attached Satellite Imagery,” the IMD said in a post on X.

“Airports visibility data shows the following visibilities in dense to very dense fog conditions: Varanasi 00m; Agra 00m; Gwalior 00m; Jammu 00m; Pathankot 00m; Chandigarh 00m; Gaya 20m; Prayagraj 50m; Tejpur 50m; Agartala 100m; Vijaywada 100m; Bagdogra 100m,” it added.

The passengers were facing difficulty at the airport over long delays and cancellations of flights. “My flight was about to depart at 8:40 am but it is now scheduled to depart at 10:30 am…The reason they have given is mainly due to weather & fog…,” a passenger shared his experience at IGI airport.

On Monday, five flights were diverted and over 100 flights were delayed at the Delhi airport due to adverse weather conditions.

Several passengers were left stranded at New Delhi Railway Station as around 30 trains including Rani Kamalapati- Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat and Howrah-Delhi Rajdhani Express were running late due to dense fog engulfing the national capital and coldwave conditions.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 5 degrees Celsius on Tuesday while it dipped to a season’s low of 3.3°C on Monday. The cold waves and fog will likely prevail over the next few days as the IMD issued an orange alert over Delhi for Tuesday and Wednesday. The capital city clocked a maximum temperature of 19.7°C on Monday.

Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at IMD, said no significant change in the weather is expected over the next 48 hours, with the minimum likely to hover in a similar range.

“An orange alert has been issued for cold wave conditions to continue. We will also continue to see dense to very dense fog in the early hours, which can impact flights, trains and road travel,” he said.

Meanwhile, the air quality in the national capital was recorded in the “severe” category on Tuesday with the Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 401 in Anand Vihar area as per Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). On Sunday, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) invoked Stage 3 of measures under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to curb the pollution levels.

On Monday, visibility was recorded as ‘zero for the first time this winter season in Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, Patiala, Ambala, Chandigarh, Palam, Safdarjung (New Delhi), Bareilly, Lucknow, Bahraich, Varanasi, Prayagraj, and Tezpur, as per the weather department.

(With inputs from agencies)