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Dense fog affects life, all flights cancelled

KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 12/8/2019 2:21:50 PM

SRINAGAR, Dec 7: Dense fog affected the life during morning hours here today. Owing to poor visibility the vehicular traffic movement on roads started late and all the flights at the airport were cancelled.
The people in the city woke up this morning with dense fog affecting the visibility badly. The air traffic was badly affected in the Kashmir Valley as dense fog forced cancellation of all flights to and fro Srinagar airport, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded, officials said.
A total of 27 flights were scheduled for the day including a couple of those for armed personnel, the officials said.
"All the scheduled flights were cancelled due to poor visibility at the airport," an official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said.
He said the visibility at the airport was around 600 metres only this morning but since there was no improvement in the situation, the air traffic was suspended for the day.
The cancellation of the flights left hundreds of passengers stranded, the officials said.
The city experienced the coldest night of the season so far recording a low of minus 3.6 degrees Celsius, an official of the Meteorological Department here said.
He said the heavy fog affected the visibility, causing problems to the people, especially motorists.
The MeT official said the valley is undergoing intense cold conditions as the mercury dipped several notches below the normal for this part of the season.
Srinagar witnessed coldest night of the summer so far after the minimum temperature dropped further and settled at minus 3.6 degree.
In most areas, particularly in outskirts, taps, drains and water bodies near banks were frozen due to below freezing temperature coupled with icy cold winds.
Entire Kashmir valley witnessed dense fog this morning badly hitting traffic and pedestrian movement.
Though the Srinagar-Jammu national highway was through for traffic, reports received here said that vehicles with headlights on were moving in a very low speed due to dense fog.
In Srinagar, very less number of vehicles, as compared to other days, were seen plying on the roads with their headlights on. Hardly any pedestrian was seen on the roads due to severe chill.
A Met department spokesman told media that visibility is just 20 meters in Srinagar on Saturday morning after minimum temperature witnessed further drop and settled at minus 3.6 degree, about three notches below normal.
The weather will remain dry and sky open due to which night temperature will remain below normal during the next 48 hours, he said.
Shops and business establishments, which were functioning since morning in Srinagar, including historic Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of the city, opened only after 0930 hrs and 1000 hrs due to chilly weather conditions. Shopkeepers later close their shops between 1300 hrs to 1400 hrs to protest against scrapping of Article 370 and 35A, besides dividing the state into two Union Territories.