NEW DELHI: The city is not likely to see a cold wave spell this January unusual for this time of the year, considered the major winter month. Successive western disturbances and winds will allow a slight cloud cover for the most part of the month and keep the mercury from dipping too low, said weather officials.
Delhi on Wednesday saw a moderate fog cover with the visibility at Palam being less than 500 metres till 8.30 am while Safdarjung saw shallow fog with visibility remaining around 800 metres, said India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials.
The city on Tuesday recorded its second ‘dense fog’ spell of the season with the visibility dropping to 50 metres at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International 5 am onwards, delaying flight operations. According to officials, fog cover reduced from Tuesday to ‘moderate’ and is likely to remain so over the next few days. “There are no chances of dense fog as even though moisture content is high, the wind speed is good. Rain over the weekend has brought sufficient moisture to Delhi, which leads to a fog spell.
With clouds and winds likely to stay around, as more WDs are expected over the coming weeks, the mercury will not drop sharply and hence there are no chances so far of a cold wave this January,” said a senior IMD official. IMD classifies fog to be ‘dense’ when visibility drops below 200 metres, while it is said to be ‘very dense’ when it drops below 50 metres. A visibility between 200 and 500 metres is “moderate” while between 500 and 1000 metres is classified as “shallow” fog.
Mahesh Palawat, vice-president of Skymet, a private weather forecaster said, that even though the minimum temperature had fallen sharply on Tuesday, it again rose on Wednesday to settle a notch above normal. “Cold winds with a speed of 8-10kmph are blowing over the city, which is mainly because the previous WDs have cleared and cold northwesterly winds from snow-cloud hilly region in the northwest have returned to Delhi. However, clouds are likely to resurface with two more WDs likely to hit the Western Himalayan Region around January 16 and then on January 18, which will have an impact on The city and the entire northern plains. These will again bring moisture and will not allow the mercury to drop below normal,” said Palawat.
While January is the major winter month and one or two cold waves do strike Delhi around this time, there is a cyclonic circulation prevailing over northwest Uttar Pradesh and with successive western disturbances, resulting in clouding, is not likely to allow cold conditions to set in.
What the weather forecast says
There is a cyclonic circulation prevailing over northwest Uttar Pradesh and with successive western disturbances resulting in clouding, it is not likely to allow cold conditions to set in