The first day of the New Year provided most parts of the country a much awaited relief from fog. A majority of cities in the country observed clear weather with only few places observing moderate foggy conditions. The national capital Delhi reported visibility of 350 meters at Palam. Areas of Dwarka, Faridabad, and Indirapuram in Delhi reported absolutely clear weather. The subsidence of fog is welcoming as most parts of the country were engulfed in dense fog for the last week of the previous year. The dense cover of fog caused major delays in air, rail, and road traffic.
Cities like Amritsar (visibility 1800 meters), Ahmedabad (visibility 2500 meters), Bhopal (visibility 1000 meters), Baroda (visibility 2000 meters), and Chennai (1500 meters) observed clear weather with no fog at all. Meanwhile, Bhubaneswar received rain showers and reported a visibility of 800 meters. Interestingly, Coimbatore which lies down south, observed a visibility of just 100 meters. This is quite unique as places in North India remained fog free while Coimbatore in south observed dense fog.
Even with fog receding almost completely, air traffic was still affected in the capital. A total of 7 flights from departure were delayed while 9 were cancelled. In addition to this, 2 flights in arrivals were also delayed due to adverse weather conditions.
Rail traffic was also hit by prevailing fog conditions resulting in the delay of 103 trains. Some of these trains (with approximate delay time) are: Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Duronto (delayed by 16 hours), Nandankanan Express Puri to New Delhi (delayed by 11 hours), Nauchandi Express Saharanpur-Allahabad (delayed by 10 hours), Nandankanan New Delhi to Puri (delayed by 7 hours), and Sampark Kranti New Delhi-Ranchi (delayed by 6 hours).
