Mercury plunges to below 2 degree C in parts of Delhi; coldest day of season
New Delhi, Dec 28: The national capital on Saturday recorded its coldest day of the season as the minimum temperature plummeted to 2.4 degrees Celsius in the morning, officials said.
The mercury even plunged to below two degrees Celsius in some areas with the Lodhi Road Observatory recording a low of 1.7 degrees Celsius.
In view of the severe cold wave, the IMD has issued a red-coded warning for several northern states, including Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. A red-coded warning is given for extreme weather events.
Dense fog enveloped the city reducing visibility and affecting air traffic and vehicular movement in the streets.
The Safdarjung Observatory, whose reading is considered the official marking for the city, recorded 2.4 degrees Celsius in the morning. The same temperature was recorded on December 30, 2013. Before that the coldest day in December was December 11, 1996 when minimum temperature recorded at the observatory was 2.3 degrees Celsius.
Other observatories recorded as follows: Palam 3.1 degrees Celsius, Aya Nagar 1.9 degrees Celsius, a senior MeT Department official said.
Due to very dense fog, zero visibility was reported in Palam Observatory area, which neighbours the city airport.
Due to heavy fog on Saturday morning, four flights were diverted from Delhi airport, said an airport official.
The official said that the flights were operating at the airport under CAT III B conditions, which means that the runway visual range (RVR) is between 50 metre and 175 metre.
According to railway officials, 24 trains were delayed due to poor visibility, ranging from 2-5 hours. Howrah New Delhi Poorva Express delayed by five hours.
The air quality turned severe again on Saturday, as falling temperatures, high humidity and low wind speed allowed accumulation of pollutants. The overall air quality index stood at 413 at 10 am.
Cold wave and severe cold day has been forecast over Delhi-NCR on Saturday, senior meteorologist at IMD, Kuldeep Srivastava said.
With chilling cold continuing to sweep Delhi-NCR, the region is expected to record its second-coldest December since 1901, the weather department said on Thursday.
"The mean maximum temperature for December was less than 20 degrees Celsius only in 1919, 1929, 1961 and 1997," an official of the India Meteorological Department said.
In December this year, the mean maximum temperature (MMT) till Thursday was 19.85 degrees Celsius. It is expected to dip to 19.15 degrees Celsius by December 31, he said.
Since December 14, most parts of the city have witnessed 15 consecutive "cold days" or a 15-day "cold spell". The last time such a long cold spell was witnessed was in December 1997.
After 1992, Delhi has had cold spells only in four years - 1997, 1998, 2003 and 2014.
"Severe cold/cold day" conditions are predicted till December 29.
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No 'jealousy' against Vijay, meeting with Stalin was friendship call, says Rajini
Chennai (PTI): Superstar Rajinikanth on Sunday denied he was "jealous" about Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and clarified that his recent meeting with DMK president M K Stalin was "purely" a friendship call and not done with any political motive.
Talking to reporters at his Poes Garden residence here, and responding to some reports, the top star made it clear that the meeting with the former chief minister Stalin was not an attempt to hinder Vijay's chief ministerial aspirations or merge political parties.
Dismissing that he had any envy towards TVK founder and chief minister Vijay, the "Jailer" star said there was a 25-year generational gap between him and the CM and commended Vijay's impressive achievements at a young age, which he said surpassed even those of the legendary MGR (MG Ramachandran) and NTR (N T Rama Rao). MGR and NTR, the two matinee idols from Tamil and Telugu cinema had gone on to become CM of Tamil Nadu and the then undivided Andhra Pradesh, respectively.
"I have seen Vijay since a young age. Why would I be jealous if he had become CM. That too at a young age of 52, he has achieved more than MGR and NTR... I have no envy at all," he added.
Rajinikanth also congratulated Vijay, whose TVK won 108 seats to form government after getting support from Congress, VCK, Left parties and IUML after the April 23 elections defeating Dravidian majors -- DMK and AIADMK.
The superstar further said that he did not enter politics due to health reasons and advised his fans to support any political party of their choice.
Rajinikanth also urged the people to grant Vijay a two-year period to establish himself.
