Patna, Dec. 13: The mercury is dipping steadily in the state capital. It slipped to 10.7°C today, sliding a few notches from yesterday’s 11°C.

With the chill feel, there was dense fog. Sunny morning is at least three days away, said weather experts. Till then, the day temperature would remain low like today.

The fog disrupted air traffic for the second consecutive today. Jet Airways cancelled its Calcutta-bound morning flight (S2-404). Several planes were delayed because the visibility was 1,000m till 12noon. The landing of flights was allowed after 1pm, when visibility reached the permissible limit of 1,600m.

“The fog blanket over Bihar and Uttar Pradesh would prevail for another two to three days,” said Animesh Chanda, the director of Patna Met department, adding that the maximum temperature on Monday stood at 19ºC — six degrees below the expected maximum temperature.

Chanda said: “Contrary to the trend of minimum temperature being slightly on the higher side during foggy conditions, the 11ºC temperature on Monday morning matched the expected minimum temperature. Even today, the minimum temperature was 10.7ºC, nearly matching the expected temperature. Such conditions lead to colder days.”

Owing to the cold condition, Patna district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh directed all the primary and middle schools to restrict their academic activities between 8am and 4pm.

Besides the capital, the mercury dipped in other parts of the state as well. Today, the minimum temperature recorded in Gaya was 10.9ºC. Bhagalpur was a tad warmer with 12.8 ºC. Purnea recorded a minimum temperature of 14.8ºC.