NEW DELHI: Cold wave has officially gripped the national capital. With minimum temperature dropping to 3.2 degrees Celsius on Monday, the lowest minimum temperature recorded in the month of December since 2019, weather officials said it is the ‘first day’ of cold wave in the city.
The conditions are likely to prevail over the next 24 hours, India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said.
On December 28, 2019, Delhi had recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 2.4 degrees Celsius. In 2018, the city recorded the lowest minimum of 2.6 degrees on December 29, IMD records showed.
Safdarjung Observatory, the base station for Delhi, recorded a minimum temperature of 3.2 degrees Celsius—five notches below normal for this time of the year.
The Lodhi Road weather station recorded the minimum temperature as 3.1 degrees, four notches below normal. A cold wave is declared when the minimum temperature’s departure from the normal (for plains) is over 4.5 degrees or when the minimum temperature is lower than 4 degrees.
Even though cold wave conditions were recorded in parts of the city on Sunday—Lodhi Road station recorded the minimum temperature as 3.6 degrees C—this is first day of a ‘cold wave’ in Delhi, said
officials on Monday. The weather bureau sounded a yellow alert on Sunday advising people to remain vigilant of the cold wave conditions.
As per IMD scientists, the cold wave spell in the northwest India entered its fourth day on Monday. “The cold wave spell started in parts of northwest India from December 16-17. Severe cold wave swept parts of Punjab, Haryana, J&K, Rajasthan, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with temperatures sinking below zero. Cold winds blowing at 15-20kmph added to the chill across the northern plains,” said a senior scientist.
Delhi might get a respite from the chill from December 22 when a fresh Western Disturbance is likely to affect the region. Also, since the northwesterly winds are likely to slow down from December 21, the chill is likely to reduce, he added.
On Monday, Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was 332 in the ‘very poor’ zone, as against 291, the previous day. On Saturday, the AQI was 291.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences’ early warning system said AQI will degrade further but remain in ‘very poor’ category due to cold wave conditions and moderate wind speed.
