Rain leaves its mark: Delhi gets first ‘severe cold day’ of season

IMD said it expects cold day conditions to remain in Delhi for the next two days, with a yellow alert in place for Tuesday and Wednesday

The rain may have gone, but its effects lingered on Monday, with most parts of Delhi reeling under a biting chill during the day, with the city’s base station at Safdarjung recording the season’s first ‘severe cold day’ as the mercury dropped to 14.8 degrees Celsius .

Thick fog engulfs Noida on Monday morning. (Sourced: Mohd Kashif and Arun Chauhan)

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said it expects cold day conditions to remain in Delhi for the next two days, with a yellow alert in place for Tuesday and Wednesday.

The minimum temperature on Monday fell to 8°C, from 10.5°C the previous day.

While the maximum temperature at Safdarjung on Monday was seven degrees below normal, Narela was Delhi’s coldest spot during the day, with weather gauges clocking out at 13.5°C.

The IMD declares a ‘cold day’ if the maximum temperature is more than 4.5 degrees below normal, with the minimum also below the 10-degree mark. It is meanwhile classified as a ‘severe cold day’ if the maximum is more than 6.5 degrees below normal. A yellow alert is generally issued to warn people about a particular weather event taking place.

“Cold to severe cold day conditions were reported from almost all stations in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). This spell will continue over the next two days as well before wind speeds once again increase from the evening of January 26,” said RK Jenamani, stating while this was not this season’s lowest maximum , most parts of Delhi recorded cold day conditions.

At 14.8°C, Monday’s was the second lowest maximum temperature recorded so far this winter, with the lowest coming at 14.7°C on Saturday.

However, it was still Delhi’s first severe cold day of the season because the city did not meet the criteria for this classification on Saturday. Despite having a maximum that was seven degrees below the normal mark on Saturday, Delhi’s minimum was 11.5°C on the day, over a degree-and-a-half above the level needed to be classified as a cold day.

Other than Safdarjung, the Ridge and Narela stations were also classified under the ‘severe cold day’ category, with departures of seven to eight degrees below the normal mark. Palam, Lodhi road and Ayanagar meanwhile recorded ‘cold day’ conditions with the maximum six degrees below normal.

Jenamani said this cold spell is not likely to be as prolonged as the previous one earlier this month, which saw cold day conditions in the city for nearly a week.

“Following the last western disturbance, we saw seven consecutive days of cold day conditions as the moisture in the air led to fog prevailing at the higher level. After this weekend’s rain, we are seeing a similar effect, but wind speeds will increase from January 26 and lead to this upper-level fog dissipating,” he added.

Forecast for Tuesday shows Delhi is expected to record moderate fog in the morning, with cold day conditions expected during the day. While the maximum is expected to be around 16 degrees, the minimum will hover around the 7-degree mark. A similar high and low of 16 and 7 degrees Celsius respectively is also forecast for Wednesday.

Delhi’s air quality meanwhile remained in the ‘poor’ category with an air quality index (AQI) of 241 on Monday. It was 202 on Sunday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) 4pm bulletin.

Agencies forecast air quality to remain in a similar range for the next two days. “On Tuesday, the AQI is likely to remain within the ‘poor’ category and on Republic Day too, it is expected to remain the same as the impact of western disturbance has diminished,” said the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (Safar), a government air forecasting body