E-Paper
Cold winds shoot down day temperature to season’s lowest
Gurugram The city witnessed its coldest day of the season on Monday, with the maximum daytime temperature falling to a low of 12.5 degrees Celsius, down from 17.9
Gurugram The city witnessed its coldest day of the season on Monday, with the maximum daytime temperature falling to a low of 12.5 degrees Celsius, down from 17.9 degrees Celsius on Sunday. The mercury dip was perceptible, with sharp, cold winds blowing throughout the day.
The skies remained overcast, with negligible sunlight, which exacerbated the cold daytime conditions that were felt across Delhi-NCR, as well as in other parts of Haryana.
The minimum nighttime temperature, meanwhile, rose slightly, settling at 10 degrees Celsius, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data. This was up from 9.7 degrees Celsius on Sunday. “However, the minimum temperature was not expected to fall yet as humidity is very high, between 70 to 98 per cent. This has stabilised the minimum nighttime temperature, particularly as the wind speed was not high at night,” said meteorologist Navdeep Dahiya.
During the day, however, strong, icy winds (with speeds ranging from 12 to 20kmph) brought about a drastic drop in daytime temperatures. Experts attributed this to a combination of factors, including the recent spate of rains and the atmospheric conditions created in their aftermath.
“The recent rainfall was due to the passage of a western disturbance, which has now ended. This created a low-pressure zone over north India and cold winds from higher altitudes have blown in — for instance, from places such as Himachal Pradesh, where it has been snowing — as a result. As these winds were quite strong during the day, they have significantly impacted the fall in daytime temperature,” said an IMD spokesperson.
The cold winds are expected to continue throughout the week, followed by a second spate of rainfall. According to IMD’s forecast, the maximum daytime temperature over the next four days is expected to remain below 14 degrees Celsius. It is then expected to rise to about 17 degrees Celsius on December 20, according to IMD’s forecast. “On December 20, we are expecting another western disturbance, which might, once again, cause rainfall across NCR,” said Dahiya.
The minimum temperature, meanwhile, is expected to remain between 10 and 12 degrees Celsius over the next four days, due to high atmospheric humidity.
While such a sharp drop in temperature would usually have an adverse impact on air quality, Gurugram continued to record ‘moderate’ quality of air on Monday for the fourth consecutive day, with a reading of 130 on the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) Air Quality Index (AQI) bulletin. “This is mainly due to high wind speeds, which have been successfully dispersing the particulate matter. Also, the high atmospheric humidity is also responsible for settling dust pollution closer to the ground,” said Sachin Panwar, a city-based air quality scientist.
Panwar added that prevailing foggy conditions are due to high atmospheric moisture and not due to hazardous concentrations of particulate matter.
“For now, we are expecting moderate air days ahead for Gurugram, based on our prediction,” a senior scientist at the CPCB’s air quality lab in Delhi said, adding that the city’s daily average AQI value over the next three days will remain between 162 to 187, in the ‘moderate’ category.
