Delhi and its adjoining region saw a thick layer of dust on Tuesday morning dropping visibility down to 1,100 meters in many areas, compared to 4,000 meters on a normal day.
The dusty atmosphere was so intense that people could not even clearly see the sky or very far off while driving vehicles.
The India Metrological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said strong, dust-raising winds have prevailed over the Delhi-NCR region since 6 am. It has reduced visibility to 1,100 meters at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi.
Dust storms were witnessed in west Uttar Pradesh, north Haryana, and parts of Rajasthan.
"The dust concentration has gone up multiple times. The Particulate Matter 10 concentration at 4 am was 140 micrograms per cubic meter and went up to 775 micrograms per cubic meter at 8 am in Delhi. It is mainly because of strong gusty winds prevailing over the area at night. Dust will settle down soon," IMD said.
The weather department mentioned that dust storms and gusty winds with speeds ranging from 40 to 75 km/h are expected to occur in Delhi-NCR, and parts of Haryana.
Speaking about the reason for the dust storm, the IMD explained: "Since last five days -- intense heating, temperature mostly above 40 degrees Celsius over the region, dry soil over the region due to very less rainfall activity and of course strong gusty winds prevailing over the area since mid-night."
The dust storms also led to worsening air quality in the national capital. Meanwhile, the weather department has denied the possibility of rain on Tuesday bringing respite.
The overall air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 134 i.e, 'moderate' category, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).