Delhi’s weather just pulled a fast one on everyone this Sankranti morning, January 14, 2026.1 While people were getting ready for their morning dip or kite flying, the city didn’t just get foggy—it got “deleted” from view within 15 minute.
The thing is, we’re used to the slow-motion winter crawl of fog. Or nothing. But what happened between 7:45 am and 8:00 am was “Flash Fog.” Let’s be real, seeing visibility go from 500 meters to basically your own front bumper in the time it takes to brew chai is terrifying. Those too.
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The “Flash Fog” Log: Field Notes
It’s an ongoing situation where the atmosphere behaves more like a digital glitch than a weather pattern.
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The “Cold Mirror” Effect: Imagine breathing on a cold glass. It fogs up instantly. The thing is, Delhi’s ground was already frigid from the 3.8°C overnight low. As the sun started to peak out, it actually triggered a weird “mixing” of layers. A tiny shift in wind brought a pocket of even colder air over the moist ground, and boom—instant saturation.
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The “Aerosol” Villain: Why was it so thick? Because Delhi’s air is currently a “Severe” soup of AQI 360-400.2 The thing is, every tiny bit of PM2.5 acts as a “condensation nucleus.”3 It’s like giving the water droplets a million tiny hooks to hang onto. Without the pollution, it would have been a light mist; with the pollution, it was a white wall.
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The 15-Minute Disappearance: And here’s the kicker—by 8:15 am, it was already thinning.The thing is, flash fog is delicate. As soon as the sun’s heat actually hit the ground, those droplets didn’t move away; they just turned back into invisible gas.
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The Safety Gap: This is why it’s dangerous. You can’t forecast this like a storm. Pilots and drivers were caught totally off-guard. It’s an ongoing situation where the IGI Airport had to issue an “emergency low visibility” advisory even though the 6 am forecast said “shallow fog.”
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Delhi Weather Snapshot: Jan 14, 2026
| Metric | Reading | The Impact |
| Visibility (7:50 AM) | < 20 meters | Traffic standstill; total “white-out.” |
| Min Temperature | 3.8°C | 3 degrees below normal; “Cold Wave” active. |
| AQI (Anand Vihar) | 366 | “Very Poor”; intensified fog density. |
| Relative Humidity | 100% | Air was fully “saturated” at the surface. |
And Here’s the Kicker…
We’re in a “La Niña” year, which means the moisture from the Bay of Bengal is getting trapped by the Himalayas and just pooling over Delhi. The thing is, meteorologists are saying this “flash” behavior might become the new normal for 2026 because of the way urban heat islands interact with cold waves.
It’s an ongoing situation where you can’t trust a clear sky at 7:30 am to stay clear at 8:00 am. If you’re heading out for the Sankranti festivities, keep your fog lights on—even if it looks sunny right now.
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