Temperature to fall further, expect cold wave conditions till end of 2019

Ghaziabad:

The weatherman has predicted severe cold conditions during the end days of 2019 with the minimum temperature expected to fall to four degrees Celsius on December 28 and 29.

Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said the minimum temperature on December 29 last year had gone down to 2.6 degrees Celsius.

The officials said severe cold conditions will prevail till the end of 2019 and the minimum temperature will show a minor increase in the New Year on January 1 and 2. They predicted dense foggy conditions during morning hours for another week.

“The minimum temperature will fall to about four degrees Celsius on December 28/29 and cold wave conditions will prevail for another 5-6 days. There will be a minor rise in temperature on December 31 and January 1 and 2 due to the effect of a western disturbance,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD’s Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, New Delhi.

The officials said similar cold wave conditions had earlier prevailed in 1997, 2003 and 2014 and is continuing further this year since December 16, except on December 21.

According to a short-term forecast by the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the Air Quality Index (AQI), which is in the higher end of the “very poor” category, is likely to improve significantly towards the middle-end of “very poor” by night of December 25 and will further improve until December 26.

“However, the unusual spell of faster wind period in this time of year that was keeping AQI in check is likely to end now. An extended period of calm surface winds with high humidity leading to shallow boundary layer height is forecasted from December 27. On December 27, the AQI is forecasted to deteriorate towards the higher end of the “very poor” category, and will touch the “severe” category by December 28 night,” the SAFAR forecast, said.

The AQI for the three cities of Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Noida was in the higher end of “very poor” category and stood at 370, 398 and 383, respectively.

The SAFAR forecast has also predicted very calm surface winds, low mixing layer and moderate to dense fog with high humidity in a week starting December 27.

Such conditions are highly favourable for secondary particulate formation, which will add to the deterioration. As per SAFAR’s extended range outlook, it is leading towards “severe” AQI conditions towards the fag end of 2019.