The National Capital saw the lowest maximum temperature of the season yet and very dense fog in some areas where early morning visibility was a mere 25 metres.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the maximum and minimum temperatures on Saturday are likely to be 19 and 10 degrees Celsius. The IMD has issued a yellow alert for moderate to dense fog on Saturday and Sunday, which will be an improvement.

On Friday, over 25 flights were delayed due to the thick fog at Palam, where visibility from 6 am to 9am was 150 metres.

Some passengers whose flights were diverted to Jaipur complained on social media that they had missed connecting flights.

The weather department expects cold day conditions in Delhi-NCR on Saturday and Sunday. A cold day is declared when the minimum temperature is below 10 degrees Celsius and the maximum temperature is lower from the normal by 4.6 degrees or more, as reported by TOI.

On Friday, the city’s maximum temperature at Safdarjung was 19.8 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal, making it the coldest day of the season so far. At Mungeshpur, however, the maximum was 14.5 degrees Celsius. Jafarpur recorded 15 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature was at 10.7 degrees Celsius, four notches above normal.

According to weather analysts, the maximum temperature dropped because the fog, instead of dissolving, rose in height, blocking the sunlight.