Weather wreaks havoc in Indian capital amid cold snap

© Arun Sankar/AFPA Spice Jet Airlines prepares to take off amid dense fog
Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi • December 27, 2023

More than 100 flights have been affected due to adverse conditions in the north of the country...

Around 100 flights were delayed and 25 canceled on Tuesday afternoon as the Indian capital, New Delhi, grappled with dense fog, low visibility, and record-low temperatures, Indian media has reported.

Chaotic scenes have been emerging from Delhi Airport since Sunday as stranded passengers awaiting departure have had to wait long hours for their flights to take off.

On Tuesday morning, the airport authorities implemented a "low visibility procedures" protocol, warning that flights not equipped for low-visibility landings could experience "delays or diversions."

Jyotiraditya Scindia, India's civil aviation minister, reacted to the situation on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, saying, "all stakeholders are working round the clock to minimize the fog-related impact."

Delhi Airport has two runways equipped to handle low visibility up to 50 meters. While one of these has been closed for a scheduled re-carpeting since mid-September, the other one was shut down on Sunday morning for a few hours as visibility reached close to zero. Scindia said in his post that the airport has been asked to "immediately operationalize" another CAT-III-enabled runway to streamline operations.

Meanwhile, passengers at the New Delhi railway station also faced difficulties as more than 30 trains were delayed due to the cold wave and fog, NDTV reported. The Indian railway network, which carries around 23 million passengers daily, is considered the backbone of the country's transportation system.

For the fifth day in a row, the Indian capital is in the grips of a cold wave, with temperatures on Tuesday morning recorded at 3.5C - four degrees below what is considered normal for this time of year. On Monday, the Indian capital recorded the coldest morning this winter, as the temperature dipped to 3.3C at Safdarjung - the official weather observatory of the capital. In nearby Lodhi Road, temperatures dropped to 3.1C.

The cold wave in New Delhi has caused health issues, a situation which is also affected by the severe levels of pollution seen during the winter months.

Reader Comments

JTF Truth · 2024-01-17T02:39:48Z

That's still 37C warmer and sunnier than where I'm at, nothing to complain about.

Finch · 2024-01-17T10:56:02Z

JTF Truth True - except when you don't own winter clothing and there is just 1 toilet for every 100 souls. SO lots of cow pie burning to keep warm, and of course there is zero visibility. Yuck

JTF Truth · 2024-01-17T16:08:29Z

Finch It's still wawawa to me. Everyone complains when it's too hot, too cold, too cloudy, too whaterever.

The weather is the weather as far as I'm concerned. It's a cold or hot fact of life. I hate not seeing the sun. Any drastic weather change always affects the local population. It's more a matter of how prepared the local governments are to deal with the infrastructure issues.

Here's a question for all.

Would you rather live in +50c or -50c?

ReRan · 2024-01-17T22:25:03Z

JTF Truth In answer to your question, am I next to the lake?

JTF Truth · 2024-01-18T05:07:04Z

ReRan

Observations:

I'll take -50c easier to build a fire than build AC. Also, you can't sleep in water when 50C.

At both ends, people are still cranky. -50c and sunny is nicer than the other end.Food doesn't rot as quickly, don't need a deep freeze or ice maker for cocktails.

Both ends are like deserts, you always need to stay hydrated and limit exposure to elements.

Finch · 2024-01-18T12:45:08Z

JTF Truth LOL probably +50c, but then again never was good at converting to fahrenheit

But I found me a goldilocks zone ... lows in 50's (f) and highs in 70's (f), but you know the saying, "if you don't like the weather, leave" ... well, I was in the -40f (same as -40c) zone for too long, but rather than complain, I just LEFT

ReRan · 2024-01-18T15:01:56Z

JTF Truth If you are in the sun on a cold day, the temp. is a couple degrees warmer than posted, as official temps are always taken in the shade. In the sun on a hot day, and the temp is a few degrees warmer as well. So, yeah, you can actually dress for the cold, but you can only undress so much in the heat. Having said that, I hope for neither.