A severe winter spell gripped Delhi-NCR on Saturday morning as a dangerous combination of dense fog, biting cold and hazardous air quality enveloped the region, sharply reducing visibility, disrupting flight operations and worsening pollution levels. Stagnant atmospheric conditions intensified the impact, leaving residents to endure another punishing episode of cold weather mixed with toxic smog.
According to the India Meteorological Department, the national capital recorded a minimum temperature of 7 degrees Celsius, while the maximum hovered around 22 degrees Celsius. In the early hours, a thick blanket of fog spread across large parts of north India, significantly impairing visibility and creating near-whiteout conditions in several areas.
States such as Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh remained under dense to very dense fog. In Uttar Pradesh, cities including Saharanpur, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Gorakhpur and Kanpur reported extremely poor visibility, dropping to zero in some locations, while Lucknow, Varanasi and Prayagraj experienced dense fog with visibility limited to about 50–100 metres during the early morning hours.
Weather observations showed that by 8.30 am, cold and dry conditions prevailed across all monitoring stations in Delhi-NCR. Maximum temperatures ranged between 19.0 degrees Celsius and 22.5 degrees Celsius. Safdarjung and Ayanagar recorded the highest maximum of 22.5 degrees Celsius, remaining several degrees above normal, while Palam stayed slightly below normal at 19.0 degrees Celsius.
Minimum temperatures remained sharply low across the region, ranging from 4.4 degrees Celsius to 5.7 degrees Celsius. Safdarjung registered the lowest minimum at 4.4 degrees Celsius, followed by Ayanagar at 4.9 degrees Celsius, both well below seasonal averages, while Palam recorded the highest minimum temperature. Over the previous 24 hours, both maximum and minimum temperatures showed only marginal changes at most stations, with no rainfall recorded, reinforcing the persistence of dry winter conditions.
In the capital, dense fog mixed with toxic smog, pushing air quality to alarming levels and prompting authorities to reimpose Stage III restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan across Delhi-NCR. Data from the Central Pollution Control Board showed the overall Air Quality Index in Delhi at 368 in the morning, placing it in the ‘very poor’ category, with several locations slipping into the ‘severe’ range.
Some of the worst-affected areas included Anand Vihar, Patparganj, Chandni Chowk, Nehru Nagar, Vivek Vihar and Jahangirpuri, where AQI levels crossed the severe threshold. Other localities such as Dwarka, ITO, Sonia Vihar and Wazirpur also continued to report very poor air quality, while the Indira Gandhi International Airport area recorded comparatively lower but still concerning pollution levels.
Neighbouring NCR cities also reported worrying pollution readings, with Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad experiencing poor to very poor air quality. Dense fog led to delays at the Indira Gandhi International Airport during early morning hours, while road and rail traffic across the region moved slowly as commuters navigated reduced visibility.
The IMD has forecast dry winter weather for Delhi over the coming week, with clear to partly cloudy skies and no rainfall expected. Night-time and early morning conditions are likely to remain cold, with mist or haze affecting visibility on some days, while shallow to moderate fog may persist during morning hours before clearing as temperatures rise.
Daytime temperatures are expected to range between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius, indicating a gradual warming trend, though minimum temperatures are likely to remain low in the first half of the week. From January 18 onwards, night temperatures are expected to rise gradually to around 8 to 10 degrees Celsius, offering limited relief from the intense winter chill.
