Temperature plunges again in MP, chill here to stay

Cold wave conditions have hit entire MP as mercury has plunged well below normal mark across the state. ‘Considerable chill’ is expected to prevail in run up to the New Year, the weathermen said.

Cold wave conditions have hit entire Madhya Pradesh as mercury has plunged well below normal mark across the state. ‘Considerable chill’ is expected to prevail in run up to the New Year, the weathermen said on Saturday.

However, the visibility might not be a big problem as only shallow fog or mist is expected in parts of the state during early morning and evening hours, the Meteorological office said.

However, ground frost conditions were expected in parts of northern MP due to low temperatures.

Northerly wind is pulling in chilly air from northern parts of the country, causing the state to shiver up under considerably low temperatures.

Umaria remained the coldest in the state with minimum temperature of 2.4 degrees Celsius, while Betul recorded minimum of 3.0 degrees.

Both in Bhopal and Indore, the Friday night remained the second coldest for this season, as the minimum temperature dipped to 6.7 and 7.4 degrees Celsius respectively — both three degrees below normal. Before this, on December 17, Bhopal had recorded minimum temperature of 6.5 degrees.

During the last entire decade, minimum temperature has been recorded below 6 degrees on only one occasion in Bhopal — 5.9 degrees on December 21, 2010 — which is coldest night of decade.

Day temperatures also plunged in most parts of the state. Bhopal recorded maximum of 22.5 degrees - two degrees below normal while Indore recorded 22.2 degrees - four degrees below normal. Both cities are recording windy conditions, which is adding to the chill.

In Indore wind speed reached up to 18 km per hour. Here, early morning mist reduced visibility to about 200 metres.

After some considerably chilly days during the third week of December, the temperatures had shown a rise across the state turning the weather comfortably cold.

But cold wave conditions have hit the state again as the mercury went into a plunge during last two days due to chilly winds blowing in from north India, the director of regional meteorological centre, Anupam Kashyapi told HT.

“Similar weather conditions are expected to prevail during the next few days with only minor up or down likely in the temperatures. So we can say that good chill would prevail in run up to New Year,” Kashyapi said.

The dip in temperatures across the state has made citizens resort to heavy of woollens as the wind is getting colder chilly evenings and early mornings. The foggy weather conditions have delayed the movement of North and South bound trains moving through Bhopal. The trains are running late anywhere between two to 19 hours, say railway sources.