Delhi sees coldest day of season as mercury drops below 10°C

IMD has forecast that the mercury will stay around 9 degrees Celsius with cold north-westerly winds blowing towards Delhi at the moment

Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 9 degrees Celsius at Ayanagar station of the India Meteorological Department on Tuesday -- this season’s first sub-10 degrees temperature. The Safdarjung station that gives the representative data for the national capital, meanwhile recorded the season’s lowest minimum of 10 degrees Celsius, IMD data shows.

Thick haze near east Delhi’s Mayur Vihar, on Tuesday. (Raj K Raj/HT)

IMD has forecast that the mercury will stay around 9 degrees Celsius with cold north-westerly winds blowing towards Delhi at the moment. But, wind direction may change to south-easterly from Thursday onwards, and the minimum temperature will rise by 1-2 degrees, Met officials said.

“We have been recording a steady drop in minimum temperature over the last two weeks. North-westerly winds generally bring colder winds from the mountains. This will continue till Wednesday. But from Thursday, we are likely to see a slight change in wind direction to south-easterly, leading to a slight rise in temperatures,” a Met official said, adding that the mercury is likely to touch around 11 degrees Celsius by November 20.

While Ayanagar was Delhi’s coldest location on Tuesday, Mungeshpur in northwest Delhi also recorded a sub-10 degrees temperature of 9.8. The lowest minimum temperature recorded at Safdarjung before Tuesday was 10.1 degrees Celsius on Sunday. IMD data shows temperatures generally tend to dip below the 10-degree mark towards the last week of November.

Last year, the lowest minimum temperature recorded in November was 6.3 degrees Celsius, on November 23. In 2019, the lowest minimum in November was 11.4 degrees, and 10.5 degrees Celsius in November 2018.

Mahesh Palawat, vice president, Skymet, said a sharp drop in temperature is only expected towards the end of the month, with the mercury likely to stay around 9-10 degrees Celsius for the next few days. “A western disturbance is developing in north-west India and once this is over, we will start seeing a drop in temperature. This will happen only after November 22, with some snowfall in the mountains,” said Palawat.

Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 27 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, one degree below normal. The relative humidity meanwhile oscillated between 35% and 95%. The IMD has forecast a maximum and minimum of 26 and 9 degrees Celsius respectively for Wednesday, along with shallow fog in the early hours.