VIJAYAWADA: With the State recording a drop in night-time temperature at isolated places in Rayalaseema region, officials of the Indian Meteorological Department-Amaravati have clarified that it is not a cold wave phenomena.
“Drop in temperatures is not a criteria. For the past few days, Kadapa and Anantapur in Rayalaseema region have recorded a drop of 8.3 degrees Celsius and 5.6 degrees Celsius, respectively, below normal temperature. However, such isolated incidents do not meet the set criteria. All we can say is that this is a near cold wave condition,” Karunakar, a senior official of IMD Amaravati told TNIE.
Stating that a drop in minimum temperature is expected to continue for another week, the official explained that under the influence of northern components, there has been a dip in temperature, more particularly in interior regions like Rayalseema, while due to land-sea interaction, coastal areas are relatively warmer.
Elaborating, Karunakar said, “In December, due to a series of low pressure areas formed in the Bay of Bengal and formation of a trough over the State, the minimum temperatures were higher than normal.
Now, with no such system in place, cold winds are making their presence felt, as there has been a cold wave in northern parts of the country.”
In Alluri Sitarama Raju district, temperature dropped to 1.5 degrees Celsius at Chintapalli on Sunday. In the 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Monday, the lowest temperature of 1.9 degrees Celsius was recorded at G Madugula. Besides, Hukumpet and G Madugula (Kunthalam) in the same district also recorded 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Few other places in Alluri Sitha Ramaraju district, including GK Veedi (2.2 degrees Celsius), Dumbriguda (2.6 degrees Celsius), Gamparai (2.6 degrees Celsius), Gorrelametta (2.8 degrees Celsius), Paderu (3.1 degrees Celsius) and Dalapatiguda (3.3 degrees Celsius) have also recorded less than 5 degrees Celsius.
On Saturday (January 7), G Madugula had recorded the lowest of 1.9 degrees Celsiusand on Friday, the lowest minimum temperature of 13.6°C in the State was reported at Muthukur in Chittoor district, followed by Nagarimadugu (13.9°C) at Valmikipuram mandal in Annamayya district and Kunthalam (14.5°C) at G Madugula mandal in ASR district.
As per the statistics (extreme values of maximum and minimum temperatures) compiled by Dr Rama Rao, Dr Sekhar and Dr A Sowjanya of Regional Agriculture Research Station (RARS) Chintapalle since 1990, 1.5 °C was observed on December 31, 2018.
However, the lowest minimum temperature ever in the region was 0°C on January 6, 1992, followed by 0.4°C on December 24, 1996.