Western disturbance to usher in another cold spell

After a brief respite, another cold spell is likely to return to the city, starting Monday, under the influence of a fresh western disturbance

After a brief respite, another cold spell is likely to return to the city, starting Monday, under the influence of a fresh western disturbance. Officials from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday that the temperature could dip by 3-4 degrees Celsius this week.

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“From January 25 onwards, very cold northwesterly winds are likely to blow over the plains in Delhi-NCR due to which we can expect a drop in temperatures. The cold spell is expected to persist for three-four days until January 28,” said Kuldeep Shrivastava, head of the IMD’s Regional Weather Forecasting centre.

While the IMD’s automatic weather station (AWS) for Gurugram did not record either minimum or maximum temperatures on Sunday, the India Meteorological Department’s AWS, in Palam in Delhi, recorded the day’s minimum temperature at 10.5 degrees Celsius and maximum temperature at 15 degrees Celsius. The Palam observatory, according to the meteorological department officials, gives a fairly accurate reading of the city’s weather.

As per IMD’s weekly forecast, the maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to hover around 7 and 16 degrees Celsius respectively on Monday. As per the IMD’s bulletin for the day, the current spell of dense to very dense fog in isolated pockets over Haryana is likely to persist till January 26.

The city’s air quality stayed in the “poor” on Sunday with the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) bulletin recording the air quality index (AQI) at 300 —a deterioration from Saturday’s AQI reading of 285 in the same category.

As per the early air quality warning system for Delhi-NCR, the air quality over Delhi-NCR is likely to deteriorate marginally and remain in the upper end of the “very poor” category on Monday and Tuesday. Subsequently, over the next five days, the air quality is largely expected to remain in the “very poor” category.