NEW DELHI: With the minimum temperature settled between one to three degrees Celsius in many parts of north and northwest India, a cold wave swept across the region on Monday. The next couple of days is likely to get even colder as the frigid northwesterly winds from the Himalayas set in over the plains.
With this, Delhi witnessed 1.4° Celsius during the wee hours of Monday which was the lowest temperature this season. The minimum temperature in the national capital has dropped by around nine notches in just two days. It was 10.2 degrees Celsius on Saturday and 4.7 degrees Celsius on Sunday. The temperature is likely to drop 1-2 degree celsius from Tuesday in many parts of north India. As many as 13 trains were running late in the Northern Railway region due to fog on Monday morning, said the Indian Railways.
The Safdarjung observatory, Delhi’s base station, saw the minimum temperature plunge to 1.4 degrees Celsius, the lowest in the month since January 1, 2021. It logged a minimum of 1.9 degrees Celsius on January 8 this year.
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The weather station at Lodhi Road, where the IMD headquarter is located, recorded a minimum temperature of 1.6 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature plunged to 2.8 degrees Celsius at Ayanagar in southwest Delhi, two degrees Celsius at the Ridge in central Delhi and 2.2 degrees Celsius at Jafarpur in west Delhi. Delhi saw an intense cold wave spell from January 5 to January 9, the second longest in the month in a decade, according to IMD data. It has also recorded over 50 hours of dense fog this month so far, which is the highest since 2019.
The IMD has issued a yellow alert in the national capital region for the next six days starting Monday, owing to the upcoming severe cold wave in the national capital region. “Cold wave conditions over northwest India are likely to abate from January 19 as two western disturbances are likely to affect the western Himalayan region in quick succession, the IMD said.