Overview
- Delhi’s minimum temperature rose to 4.3°C after five days of cold-wave conditions, up from Thursday’s 2.9°C, as Palam climbed to 4.7°C from 2.3°C.
- Gurugram plunged to 1.8°C early Friday even as visibility later improved to around 900 metres, and the city’s AQI stayed in the very poor range at about 346.
- Air quality across Delhi-NCR remained very poor (AQI ~340–350) with official forecasts indicating a potential slip into the severe band around January 18.
- Dense to very dense fog continued to disrupt travel, with CAT III procedures at IGI Airport, several flight delays reported, and trains running late across the region.
- Regional alerts expanded beyond Delhi-NCR, including an orange fog alert for over 50 districts in Uttar Pradesh and continued cold day and fog warnings for Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh, as the IMD projected rain or snow in the western Himalayas and light rain over parts of the plains next week.