Season’s first cold wave to hit by next week

A dense fog is likely to engulf eastern and northwest India. There would be a drop in minimum temperature in the range of 2-8°C in the northern plains.

People keep themselves warm around a bonfire during a cold winter morning (File Photo)

NEW DELHI: Season’s first cold wave is about to start from next week as a Western Disturbance (WD) is likely to enter the western Himalayas. It will set o​ff icy cold winds from snow-clad Himalayas to bring a significant drop in temperature next week.

Under its influence, a light to moderate rainfall will take place in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh and snowfall over Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Apart from rainfall, a dense fog would also engulf eastern and Northwest India. Resultantly, there would be a drop in minimum temperature in the range of 2-8°C in the Northern Plains.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said a fresh Western Disturbance is seen as a trough in middle tropospheric westerlies with its axis at 5.8 km above mean sea level. It is very likely to cause snowfall over the Western Himalayan Region from December 8-11 and light to moderate rainfall over the plains of Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh on December 8 and 9. It will lead to significant drop in temperatures by 2-5 °C in Punjab and Haryana and Delhi and UP will witness a record drop in temperature in the range of 5-8°C. 

In the meantime, cold wave conditions would likely prevail in isolated pockets over North Rajasthan during December 9 to 13.

Further, dense fog conditions are very likely to prevail during late night and early morning hours in isolated pockets of Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura till December 9; in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Jharkhand during December 8 to 10; in Uttar Pradesh during December 9 to 12; Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim till 10 December and in Himachal Pradesh during December 10 to12 morning hours.  

In addition to it, Southern India may witness another cyclonic storm in the coming week. A low-pressure area formed over southeast Bay of Bengal and the adjoining east Equatorial Indian Ocean and is likely to move west-northwestwards, becoming more marked during the next 24 hours.  

The IMD said in its bulletin that it may cause heavy rainfall over South Peninsular India during December 10 to 13. A light to moderate rainfall is likely to be in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal and heavy rainfall over coastal Tamil Nadu, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam.

IMD has advised fishermen not to venture into Southeast Bay of Bengal during next week.