Blame unexpected moisture-laden easterlies

NEW DELHI: It will pay to be extra careful while driving on Monday. The Met officials have predicted yet another day of thick fog with the cold conditions expected to continue even on Monday. Blame the unexpected moisture-laden winds from the east that hit the city on Saturday night. According to the weatherman, though Saturday was bright and sunny, the temperature on Sunday dipped to a minimum of 7.7 degree Celsius with the maximum temperature recorded at 14.3 degree Celsius seven degrees below normal.
"Sunday was the second worst fog day for the season.The city gets winds from north and west in this season due to which the weather was improving over the last couple of days. But a blanket of fog engulfed the city when moist winds from the eastern side started blowing in around 11.30pm,'' said a senior Met official. He added, "These winds continued for the next 24 hours. Fog is likely on Monday morning too with slight improvement expected later in the day.''
At least four accidents were reported in the city on Sunday while 22 flights were cancelled due to fog. Many people thanked their luck as it was Sunday and they could stay snuggled in quilts without having to venture out in the fog. Said Ashish Ahuja from Janakpuri, "We were supposed to drive down to Jaipur on Sunday morning. But the fog was scary. So we postponed our outing and spent the day watching TV in front of our room heater.''
The visibility on Sunday evening was 200m. The IGI Met department also expects a difficult time for early morning flights as a CAT-III situation is expected for nearly eight hours between 1am and 9am on Monday. The Met officials also predicted the temperature to oscillate between seven to 17 degree Celsius on Monday.