Some predictions suggest temperatures can dip as low as -4°C
Another cold wave is expected in North India, with temperatures dipping further from January 14, 2023. Temperatures may go as low as -4 degrees Celsius in the plains, predictions by Navdeep Dahiya, the founder of Live Weather of India, an online weather platform, suggested.
However, India Meteorological Department’s warning is similar, although not as severe. Cold wave conditions are very likely to persist in isolated pockets over Delhi and its neighbouring states with a dip of 3-5 degree celsius from January 14-16.
Parts of North India have already seen bone-chilling cold and dense fog this winter, with 1.9 degrees recorded at Delhi’s Safdarjung weather station earlier this week. Churu in West Rajasthan recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 1.5 degrees Celsius in the plains.
Dozens of trains have been delayed or cancelled daily in the north and several flights have also been affected due to the fog. Cold conditions as low as 5.5 degree Celsius have been reported from across parts of southern India too (Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu).
While dense fog has improved in some parts of northern India (Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh), it is expected to prevail over others (Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh).
A western disturbance as a trough in westerly winds in the middle troposphere is likely to cause fairly widespread rainfall or snowfall over western Himalayan region until January 14, according to IMD.
Minimum temperatures in Jammu and Kashmir have already dropped below sub-zero temperature. Delhi has experienced the third worst cold spell in the last 23 years and is set to experience another cold spell from January 14, 2023.
“The long cold wave spell in Delhi can be attributed to a large gap between two western disturbances which allowed the chilly northwesterly winds from the mountains to affect the plains for a longer-than-usual period,” Mahesh Palawat, vice-president for meteorology and climate change of private weather forecast company Skymet Weather, told news agency Press Trust of India.
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