Delhi cold wave alert! IMD issues warning as winter tightens its grip on capital city

With air quality inching closer to a marginal improvement, Delhi woke to a chilly, fog-filled Tuesday even though the AQI remained in the “poor” category. The India Meteorological Department has issued a warning of a stronger cold wave expected to sweep northern and central India later this week.

According to air quality monitors, Delhi’s 24-hour median AQI stood at 293, a decrease from 318 the previous day, but still far from achieving clean air. Despite this overall improvement, several monitoring stations continued to log "very poor" readings, notably Anand Vihar at 319 and Bawana at 343. The city had earlier posted an AQI of 308 on Sunday, continuing weeks of toxic air that left residents shrouded in smog.

The day brought dense fog and a notable drop in temperatures. For Tuesday, the forecast called for a minimum of 10 degrees Celsius and a maximum near 25 degrees, but officials warned the mercury could fall further over the next two days, intensifying the chill.

Winters strike Northern India

Cold conditions persisted across the northern states, with the Amarnath Yatra base camp in Jammu and Kashmir recording the coldest temperature at minus 4.3 degrees Celsius.

The India Meteorological Department has also forecasted that cold-wave conditions are most likely to hit isolated pockets of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha from Tuesday through December 12, as temperatures have already dipped in these areas.

Meanwhile, in northern states like Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, the minimum temperatures dropped ranging between 3 and 7 degrees Celsius.

Parts of Rajasthan and neighbouring states could see a slight uptick in minimum temperatures if a weak western disturbance brings partly cloudy skies to Rajasthan, though the overall trend points to a deeper chill.

Snowfall added a bright note to the north as upper Himachal Pradesh reported fresh snow, including the Rohtang Pass and nearby areas, on Monday.

In response to unsafe conditions, authorities closed the Manali-Leh road beyond Darcha, a routine winter precaution expected to keep the route shut through the winter, with reopening anticipated around May-June. The Gramphoo-Losar road was also closed. While the snowfall brought some cheer to local communities, travel remained hampered by slippery stretches.