Frigid conditions to persist in Delhi; winter rain likely on New Year's Day
New Delhi (PTI): A biting cold swept through the capital on Wednesday, with similar conditions likely to prevail on New Year's Day, while a spell of rain, which could be the season's first, is expected later in the night or on January 1.
The minimum temperature in Delhi was recorded at 6.4 degrees Celsius, about 0.4 degrees Celsius below normal.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said foggy and cold conditions prevailed in the city during morning hours, followed by cold day conditions through the day, which are expected to persist into the night.
"A cold day is declared when the minimum temperature falls below 10 degrees Celsius and the maximum temperature remains about 4.5 degrees below normal," an IMD official said.
A generally cloudy sky with light rain is forecast for January 1, with cold day conditions expected to continue.
"There is a slight chance of very light and isolated rain over Delhi and the NCR between tonight and New Year's Day due to an induced cyclonic circulation over Punjab and Haryana. If it occurs, this could be the season's first spell of rain," Mahesh Palawat of Skymet told PTI.
From January 3, coldwave conditions may develop as the minimum temperature could drop below 5 degrees Celsius, with cold northerly winds from the Himalayan region expected to move towards the capital, he added.
Meanwhile, visibility dropped sharply in several parts of the city due to dense fog on Wednesday.
According to the weather department, Safdarjung reported the lowest visibility of 50 metres between 6.30 am and 7.30 am, which later improved to 100 metres by 8 am. Palam recorded visibility as low as 50 metres between 4 am and 7.30 am, improving to 150 metres by 8 am.
IMD scientist Dr Naresh Kumar said dense to very dense fog has been prevailing over north India for nearly two weeks. "Dense fog may occur at isolated places in Delhi tomorrow morning," he said.
Explaining the weather pattern, Kumar said an active western disturbance is currently positioned over north Pakistan. "Due to its influence, light to moderate rainfall and snowfall will continue over the western Himalayan region for the next two to three days. Very light rainfall activity is also possible over the NCR region," he said.
He explained that fog forms when temperatures are low, winds are light and moisture levels are high. "When these conditions persist, fog stays longer during the day, blocks sunlight and helps cold day conditions continue," he said.
The IMD said dense to very dense fog is likely to persist in Delhi for the next five days.
For the New Year's Day, the IMD forecast generally cloudy skies with a possibility of very light to light rain at isolated places. Shallow to moderate fog is expected during the morning hours, with maximum temperatures likely to remain between 14 degrees Celsius and 16 degrees Celsius and minimum temperatures between 9 degrees Celsius and 11 degrees Celsius.
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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.
