Cooler nights & days in Pune till January end: IMD

On Thursday, Pune city reported night temperatures as low as 9.8 degrees Celsius. A day before on Wednesday, the city reported an even lower night temperature of 9.4 degrees Celsius

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), nights will be cooler till the end of January. As per the forecast issued by the weather department, night temperatures in Pune city are likely to remain between 10 and 12 degree Celsius till January 31. Minimum temperatures as well will continue to remain in single digits. On Thursday, the city reported night temperatures as low as 9.8 degrees Celsius. A day before on Wednesday, the city reported an even lower night temperature of 9.4 degrees Celsius. On Tuesday, Pune reported the lowest minimum temperature of the season at 8.5 degrees Celsius.

The day temperature is likely to remain cooler than normal. The night temperature is also not expected to increase more than 12 degrees Celsius in the next few days, says IMD official. (HT PHOTO)

About the weather, Anupam Kashyapi, head of the weather forecasting department, said that the day temperature is likely to remain around 27 to 28 degrees Celsius. “The day temperature is likely to remain cooler than normal. The night temperature is also not expected to increase more than 12 degrees Celsius in the next few days. There is a cold wave-like situation in Vidarbha till January 28. However, other parts of the state are likely not to experience cold wave-like conditions. Days and nights might feel cooler which is usual for the month of January,” Kashyapi said.

While the dust storm has passed, the air quality has not improved much in Pune city. According to scientists, the air quality index (AQI) continues to remain in the poor to very poor category in most parts of the city.

B S Murthy, director of System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) and scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) said that Pune city has poor AQI but it is likely to improve in the next two days.

“The AQI of Pune was ‘poor’ at 259 on Thursday and is likely to improve to ‘moderate’ over the next few days. The air quality deteriorated due to the dust storm not just in Pune but other parts of the state as well. However, it will improve soon,” said Murthy.

As the temperature drops, the air quality also deteriorates, said officials from IITM.

On Thursday evening, Shivajinagar reported very poor AQI at 322, Lohegaon reported very poor AQI at 306, Hadapsar reported poor AQI at 276, Bhosari reported very poor AQI at 304, Nigadi reported poor AQI at 273, Kothrud reported poor AQI at 280, and Bhumkar Chowk reported poor AQI at 235.

Alandi, Pashan and Katraj reported moderate air quality on Thursday.