Delhi shivers as daytime temperature drops to season’s lowest of 14.8°C

Cloud cover and foggy conditions ensure cold day conditions prevail for second consecutive day. Air quality improves as wind speed picks up

The maximum temperature in the national capital dipped to its lowest this season as low cloud cover and foggy conditions ensured cold day conditions for the second consecutive day on Saturday. Air quality improved as well, reaching the ‘poor’ range, as winds picked up speed.

People warm themselves around a bonfire at Ashram in New Delhi, on Saturday. (Amal KS/Hindustan Times)

The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Safdarjung observatory, the official marker of the city’s weather, recorded the season’s lowest maximum temperature of 14.8 degrees Celsius (°C) on Saturday, nearly five degrees below normal, and a minimum temperature of 6.1°C, a degree below normal. Severe cold day conditions were recorded in isolated parts, weather officials said.

Before this, the season’s lowest maximum temperature was seen on January 9, when it dipped to 15°C. Last year too, the lowest maximum temperature was 15°C on January 25.

A cold day is declared when the minimum temperature is less than or equal to 10°C and the maximum temperature is at least 4.5°C below the normal. A severe cold day is one when the maximum temperature’s departure from normal is 6.5°C or greater.

A western disturbance is likely to affect northwest India from January 18, which will affect the weather over Delhi. “There will be change in weather from (January) 18. The night temperature and the day temperature will improve slightly,” said weather scientist RK Jenamani, adding that though a cold day is likely on Sunday, there may be a slight rise in temperature.

While severe cold day conditions were reported at the Delhi ridge, cold day conditions prevailed at Safdarjung, Palam, Lodhi Road and Ayanagar. Narela, which recorded a maximum temperature of 10.7°C, was the coldest area in the city.

The weather bureau attributed the cold day conditions to a low cloud cover and moderate fog. “Similar to Friday, today (Saturday) also there was a layer of moderate fog /low cloud during the day over Delhi NCR, also over Punjab, Haryana, UP and north Rajasthan, which prevented sunlight from reaching the surface. Also, light winds are blowing over the region. These conditions led to a severe cold day/cold day over Delhi NCR,” the Met department said in a statement.

IMD has forecast partly cloudy skies along with moderate fog on Sunday, with cold day conditions expected to prevail in many places.

Meanwhile, air quality improved in the Capital, with the air quality index (AQI) settling in the ‘poor’ range (258), down from Friday’s ‘very poor’ reading of 348, as per the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) 4pm bulletin.

The CPCB classifies an AQI of 0-50 as “good”, 51-100 as “satisfactory”, 101-200 as “moderate”, 201-300 as “poor”, 301-400 as “very poor” and above 400 as “severe”.

The Union ministry of earth science’s air quality monitoring centre, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), on Saturday said that the air quality is likely to worsen and stay in the ‘very poor’ category until Monday on account of prevailing foggy and partly cloudy conditions, low wind speed and moderate mixing layer height leading to weak ventilation of pollutants. It is likely to improve to within the ‘very poor’ category on Tuesday due to relatively higher wind speed, stated the forecast.