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.
Less time to read?
Try Quickreads
-
Delhiwale: Portrait of a childhood
Noor Ahmad is just 14. More astonishing is the fact that despite being so young, he lives far from his family. Noor Ahmad explains that “when one doesn't have much money at home, then one has to go to distant places to earn money”. At night, he eats out in an eatery. While discussing his inability to attend school, Noor Ahmad remarks that he is not able to read English.
-
Khemka approaches HC seeking quashing of FIR
Senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka has approached the Punjab and Haryana high court seeking quashing of an FIR registered in Panchkula under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Senior advocate RS Cheema is likely to appear for the IAS officer. The FIR was registered on the complaint of Haryana State Warehousing Corporation, managing director, Sanjeev Verma, on April 26 at Sector-5 police station in Panchkula. Verma, too, was booked on a complaint from Khemka.
-
Karnal: Basmati seeds recalled over poor germination
Amid complaints of poor germination, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute's regional centre in Karnal has recalled the seeds of Pusa Basmati 1509 variety of rice it sold to farmers. The quantity of seeds sold during this period was not disclosed, but it is said that it cost ₹80/kg. Officials have asked the farmers, who had bought the seeds during this period from here, to contact them by May 21 along with the receipt and seeds.
-
Mundka fire: Owners of building, factory to be quizzed; DNA samples of 26 taken
The Delhi Police on Monday said that they will seek the custody of the two businessmen who were running an industrial unit in a Mundka building where a devastating fire killed 27 people on Friday in order to question them along with the owner of the building. The Goyal brothers were arrested on Friday, and the owner, Manish Lakra was arrested on Sunday.
-
Attack by rival group: Three bodies fished out of Yamunanagar canal
A day after 10 persons had jumped into Western Yamuna Canal in Buria region of Yamunanagar after allegedly being threatened by a rival group, a team of the national disaster response force (NDRF) on Monday recovered three bodies. The deceased were identified as Nikhil, Sahil and Suleman, while Allaudin and Sunny are still missing, superintendent of police Kamaldeep Goyal said. All of them were between 18 and 22 years of age and residents of Jagadhri.
