Dense fog lowered visibility in parts of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, while cold wave conditions prevailed in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand on Thursday. Domestic and international flight operations were majorly unaffected. However, there were a few exceptions.

The Low Visibility Procedure was kicked in at Delhi Airport at 1:30 am on Thursday. SpiceJet issued an advisory to passengers to or from Patna, Darbhanga, Kanpur airports, requesting passengers to keep a check on their flight status. An IndiGo flight to Jammu was delayed by over an hour due to the weather conditions.

#WeatherUpdate: Due to bad weather in Kanpur (KNU), all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights may get affected. Passengers are requested to keep a check on their flight status via https://t.co/VkU7yLjZly.

— SpiceJet (@flyspicejet) December 22, 2022

Meanwhile, an Air Canada flight to Vancouver was cancelled and a British Airways flight to Heathrow was delayed by almost two hours.

At 5:30 am, visibility in Delhi was recorded at 200 metres; in Amritsar, Ambala and Churu, it was 50 metres; in Chandigarh, Patiala, Ganganagar, Bareilly and Gorakhpur, it was 25 metres, while in Bhatinda, there was very dense fog, lowering visibility to 0 metres. Very dense fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres, 51 and 200 is dense, 201 and 500 moderate, and 501 and 1,000 shallow.

Several accidents due to morning fog have occurred in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Manipur in the past few days. On Wednesday, seven students died while 40 others were injured in a school bus accident on the Old Cachar Road in Noney district of Manipur. After the accident, the Directorate of Education in Manipur said schools should not conduct excursions till January 10, 2023, to avoid any untoward incidents.

Fog and cold wave alert today:

Himachal Pradesh

The India Meteorological Department has predicted cold wave conditions in parts of Himachal Pradesh on Thursday. Districts including Kangra, Una, Hamirpur, Mandi and Bilaspur are likely to witness cold wave conditions.

Punjab

The IMD has issued a dense fog alert in parts of Punjab. A red alert has been sounded in Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala. Fog conditions are likely to prevail in Bathinda, Barnala, Mansa and Fazilka.

Haryana

A red alert has been issued in Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Kaithal, Karnal, Panipat and Sonipat. Meanwhile, an orange alert has been issued in Ambala, Bhiwani, Rohtak and Jhajjar.

Uttar Pradesh

Most parts of the state are on fog alert. Bijnor, Moradabad, Fatehpur, Gorakhpur, Sitapur, Barabanki, Amethi and Lucknow are among other districts on alert.