New Delhi, Feb 4 (IANS) Dense fog descended over the national capital on a cold Monday morning bringing down visibility to 50 metres as the minimum temperature was recorded at 8 degrees Celsius, one notch below normal.

Visibility was zero at 7.30 a.m. at Palam, the Met said. Humidity was 100 per cent at 8.30 a.m.

"There was dense to very dense fog in parts of Delhi. The sky will remain partially cloudy during the day with haze and smog thereafter," an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.

There was no rainfall over the past 24 hours. However, the IMD has forecast light rains accompanied by thunderstorm or hail from Tuesday till Thursday.

Low visibility contributed to delaying of 27 Delhi-bound trains.

On Sunday, the maximum temperature was recorded at 19.9 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal for this time of the year and the minimum was at 9.4 degrees Celsius, one above average.

--IANS vn/in