Cold Wave Strikes Delhi And North India

NEW DELHI:
Delhi and the adjacent plains shivered in “severe” cold on Monday and big swaths of them battled dense to extremely dense fog, which the Met department warned would last for many days.

A severe cold wave overtook the region, with the maximum temperature in Delhi dropping 10 degrees below normal. Here are the key points that you should know about:

Meteorologists attributed the dramatic drop in day temperatures to freezing northwesterly winds sweeping across the plains and diminished sunlight owing to fog.
Dense fog in Delhi reduced visibility to 50 metres in some areas, impacting road and rail travel.

Ten trains were reported to be running late by 1.45 to 3.30 hours. The temperature in the Ridge region dipped to 3 degrees Celsius, 4.9 degrees below normal, making it the coldest place in the national capital.

The minimum temperature at the Ridge and Ayanagar weather stations was 4 degrees Celsius and 4.1 degrees Celsius, respectively.
The Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi’s major meteorological station, recorded a minimum temperature of 5 degrees Celsius, which is three degrees Celsius below usual.

The Palam observatory recorded a minimum temperature of 6.5 degrees Celsius and a maximum temperature of 12.5 degrees Celsius, a nine-degree Celsius deviation from normal. Jafarpur in southwest Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 4.2 degrees Celsius and a maximum temperature of 11 degrees Celsius, both of which were 10 degrees below usual.

Mungeshpur in northwest Delhi had a low of 5.3 degrees Celsius and a high of 11.4 degrees Celsius, compared to the season’s average high of 21.4 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature at Ayanagar, Lodhi Road, Ridge, Najafgarh, Pitampura, and Mayur Vihar automatic weather stations was six to eight degrees below normal.

According to Mahesh Palawat, vice president (meteorology and climate change), Skymet Weather, a western disturbance caused a fresh snowfall in the highlands on December 25-26, and cold northwesterly winds are presently sweeping through the plains following its retreat.

“An increase in humidity levels induced by the WD resulted in dense to very dense fog, which restricted sunlight, further lowering the day temperature,” he was quoted as saying by PTI. He also stated that the wind chill factor is high, which is a measure of the rate of heat loss from skin exposed to the air.

When it is freezing outside, the higher the wind speed, the colder it feels on the skin. On Monday, Delhi recorded a peak wind speed of 15 kilometres per hour.

Chill Reported In Areas Adjacent To The National Capital:
Biting cold and dense fog were reported in numerous regions of Punjab and Haryana, with Narnaul having the coldest temperature in the region at 2.4 degrees Celsius.

Hisar, Haryana, experienced a searing cold with a minimum temperature of 2.5 degrees Celsius. Ambala had a low of 7.7 degrees Celsius, Karnal had a low of 6.8 degrees Celsius, Rohtak had a low of 6.6 degrees Celsius, Bhiwani had a low of 5.5 degrees Celsius, and Sirsa had a low of 5.2 degrees Celsius.
The minimum temperature in Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, was 7.4 degrees Celsius.

Amritsar had a low of 6.5 degrees Celsius, Ludhiana had a low of 6 degrees Celsius, Pathankot had a low of 8.8 degrees Celsius, Bathinda had a low of 3.6 degrees Celsius, Faridkot had a low of 6 degrees Celsius, and Gurdaspur had a low of 4.5 degrees Celsius.

Intense cold and fog disrupted normal life in areas of Rajasthan on Monday. Fatehpur was the coldest area in the desert state, with a minimum temperature of minus 1.5 degrees Celsius, followed by Churu and Pilani (Jhunjhunu), where the mercury settled at 0 degrees Celsius and 0.2 degrees Celsius, respectively, on Sunday night, according to the Met department.

Karauli and Sikar recorded a minimum of 0.5 and 1 degree Celsius while the night temperature was 2 degrees Celsius in Alwar, 2.4 in Bikaner, 2.7 in Bhilwara, 3 in Nagaur, 4.4 in Sriganganagar, Sangaria (Hanumangarh) and Vanasthali (Tonk), 4.5 in Dholpur and Anta (Baran), 4.7 in Chittorgarh, 5 in Dabok (Udaipur), 5.2 in Phalodi (Jodhpur) and 5.5 degree Celsius in Bundi.

The maximum temperature in most parts of the state ranged between 16 and 25 degrees Celsius. In isolated spots, intense fog also prevailed.
Bathinda in Punjab and Bikaner in Rajasthan reported zero visibility, while Ambala, Hisar, Amritsar, Patiala, Ganganagar, Churu, and Bareilly reported visibility of 50 metres or less.

IMD Predictions For Upcoming Days:
The fog will remain in these places for the next three days, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The IMD defines ‘very dense’ fog as visibility between 0 and 50 metres, ‘dense’ fog as visibility between 51 and 200 meters, ‘moderate’ fog as visibility between 201 and 500 metres, and ‘shallow’ fog as visibility between 501 and 1,000 metres. The IMD confirmed a cold wave in the plains when the minimum temperature falls below 4 degrees Celsius.

A cold wave is also declared when the minimum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or below and is 4.5 degrees Celsius or lower than normal. A ‘severe’ cold wave occurs when the minimum temperature falls below two degrees Celsius or the deviation from normal exceeds 6.4 degrees Celsius.