A punishing cold wave swept Delhi on Monday morning with the minimum temperature at the Safdarjung observatory, the city's base station, plunging to 1.4 degrees Celsius, the lowest in the month since January 1, 2021. The weather station at Lodhi Road, where the India Meteorological Department (IMD) headquarter is located, recorded a minimum temperature of 1.6 degrees Celsius.

The IMD had earlier issued an orange warning for cold wave in Delhi till January 17-18.

Delhi saw an intense cold wave spell from January 5 to January 9, the second longest in the month in a decade, according to IMD data.

It has also recorded over 50 hours of dense fog this month so far, which is the highest since 2019.

In the plains, a cold wave is declared if the minimum temperature dips to 4 degrees Celsius or when it is 10 degrees Celsius and 4.5 notches below normal.

A severe cold wave is when the minimum temperature dips to two degrees Celsius or the departure from the normal limits is by more than 6.4 notches.

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