The fog in Delhi, rather the ‘fog shock’ in Delhi and north India is very soon going to hit and disrupt flights, rail and road. “The fog in Delhi will start from Jan 19th onwards and could be dense to very dense. Earlier this week Skymet predicted that the cold winter and fog in Delhi and north India are not yet over. This fog in Delhi and north India could last for 3 to 4 days”, says Mahesh Palawat, Head of the forecasting team at Skymet Weather.Here’s a table to depict the number of dense fog and zero visibility days this winter, (Nov2012- Jan2013):
|
Zero Visibility Days |
|
|
Dec-2012 |
4 |
|
Jan-2013 |
7 |
This NIL visibility in the months of Dec and Jan were observed only between to 0300 to 0800 hrs on an average. The dense fog cover cleared by early morning and did not last all day. This is in stark contrast to the dense fog days in Dec2011-Jan2012 where the fog cover lasted till the afternoon.
Every winter 5 to 6 ‘western disturbance’ affects north India, as it brings rain, causes dense fog and temperatures fall drastically. This is the same trend we are witnessing right now and cold days ahead with a drop in both minimums and maximums by 6⁰C to 7⁰C will soon make people shiver in Delhi and north India and will force them to pull out their woolens and blowers back again. Government body IMD (India Meteorological Department) had been stressing on the same factor in the last few days and mentioned the importance of this particular ‘western disturbance’ in north India will bring major changes.
Fog in north India is a serious problem every winter disrupting daily lives. Where people on road get stuck in jams for hours, road accidents too take the casualty toll to shocking number each year. This is particular on highways and open areas. Railways bear the brunt of fog in Delhi as in dense fog hours some trains run up to 20 hours late. Air traffic on the other hand has its own share of troubles. Flights run terribly late due to fog in Delhi, making the passengers suffer, and the one that do run after hours of delay, are often diverted to other states airports. The result: a major loss of money and time for both airport authorities and travelers.
But that’s not all, fog in Delhi every winter, has often led to a delay of vegetable trucks commuting across cities, therefore reaching mandis late and causing a rise in prices of veggies. Fog in Delhi often increases woes of people suffering from respiratory problems as the air when fog cover is dense becomes damp and heavy, thus making it difficult for asthmatic and severe sinus patients to breathe.
Jatin Singh, CEO of Skymet Weather says, “We are proud to be able to make predictions about the changing conditions and the fog in Delhi and north India this accurately but the need of the hour is to be weather wise so delays and accidents due to fog can be totally avoided.” He also feels a serious need for India to be an active weather wise country with more weather stations and people always alert!
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Photo by David.dolphin
