There is transport chaos in the capital New Delhi and in large parts of northern India. Over 100 planes and at least 25 trains were cancelled, diverted or delayed for hours. The reason? A thick fog, with average visibility reduced to 200 meters, which also threw road traffic into chaos, as well as air and rail traffic. Government agencies have issued an orange alert for the next 24 hours.

This fog is the most intense ever recorded in the winter season to date. This is a climatic phenomenon caused by the sudden drop in temperatures that occurs during the night hours. In particular, in the state of Uttar Pradesh the poor visibility, reduced to 50 metres, caused a series of road accidents, with a series of collisions involving dozens of cars on the national motorway network.

"The fog occurred due to multiple reasons. The western disturbance has recently passed, leaving the sky clear, but the increase in humidity level due to light winds in Palam and calm in Safdarjung have made conditions conducive to fog, not only in Delhi, but also in parts of Haryana. For the next two days, we expect dense fog across the region during the morning hours", said meteorologist Kuldeep Srivastava.