VIJAYAWADA: On November 11, Anantapur experienced a cold day with minimum temperature touching 14.7 degree Celsius, which was 6.4 degree Celsius below the normal temperature of the day. Nandigama in Krishna district also registered a minimum temperature of 15.8 degree Celsius, 5.6 degrees below the normal temperature.
Two days earlier, Nandigama registered a minimum temperature of 16.2 degree Celsius with a drop of 5.2 degree Celsius from normal. Similarly, a few other places in the State have registered the minimum temperatures well below the normal. It is an indication of the colder days ahead in the State, say weathermen.
Weathermen predict 2-3 degrees drop in minimum temperature compared to last year under the influence of the ‘La Nina’ effect. However, this week, the minimum and maximum temperatures returned to normal under the influence of the trough formed in the Bay of Bengal, which saw the Northeast Monsoon becoming normal in various parts of the State.
“The drop in minimum temperatures below normal was due to northerly and north easterly cold and dry winds coming from North India. The drop in temperature and reverting to normal is likely to continue till the first half of December, and the winter, which will be comparatively colder, will set in from the second half of December,” IMD Andhra Pradesh head S Stella told TNIE.
La Nina refers to the periodic cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific. Typically, La Nina events occur every three to five years or so, but it can occur over successive years also. La Nina represents the cool phase of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle.
Previously, in 2017-18, Andhra Pradesh experienced the ‘La Nina’ effect. Before that, the State experienced the phenomena from 2005-06 to 2008-09 and again in 2012.
“There has been a drop in temperatures last week by over 5 degree Celsius below normal. This week, the temperatures recorded are normal. Troughs like the one that formed in the Bay of Bengal may form again during the next two-three weeks, hence the dip in the temperatures continuing over a longer period might not be there till the later half of December,” Stella explained.
Meanwhile, agency regions in North coastal districts are experiencing temperatures below 20 degree C, and Tirumala, which has been receiving rains for the past couple of days, is under a blanket of fog in the early hours of the day and during early evening.