Delhi records its coldest December day in six years
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi recorded its coldest December day in six years on Wednesday, ending 2025 on a biting note as the maximum temperature plunged to 14.2 degrees Celsius.
Data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed that the last time the city recorded a lower maximum temperature was on December 31 in 2019, when the day's maximum had dipped to 9.4 degrees Celsius.
The maximum temperature on Wednesday was recorded at 14.2 degrees Celsius, about 6.2 notches below normal, the lowest this season, while the minimum temperature settled at 6.4 degrees Celsius, around 0.4 notches below the seasonal average.
The second-lowest maximum temperature this December was recorded on December 20, when it fell to 16.9 degrees Celsius, followed by December 19, while the third-lowest was on December 21, when the maximum settled at 18.1 degrees Celsius.
"A cold day is declared when the minimum temperature falls below 10 degrees Celsius and the maximum temperature remains about 4.5 degrees Celsius below normal," an IMD official said.
"Cold day conditions are expected to continue on New Year's Day as well. There is a slight chance of very light and isolated rain over Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) between Wednesday night and Thursday due to an induced cyclonic circulation over Punjab and Haryana," said Mahesh Palawat of Skymet.
From January 3 onwards, colder conditions may develop as minimum temperatures could drop further, with cold northerly winds from the Himalayan region expected to move towards the national capital, he added.
The weather office said shallow fog was observed in parts of the city during the evening hours. According to the IMD, Palam recorded visibility of around 600 metres, while Safdarjung reported visibility of about 800 metres between 8.30 pm and 9 pm.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
