Cold wave predicted in Delhi on Tuesday, rain likely this week

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted another cold wave for the city on Tuesday, when the minimum temperatures are likely to drop to 4 degrees Celsius.

Delhiites woke up to a cold morning on Sunday, with the minimum temperatures dipping to 5.2 degrees, four degrees below normal.

Children sit near fire to protect themselves from cold on a winter morning, at Indraprastha Extension, in New Delhi, on Sunday, January 27, 2019. (Sushil Kumar/HT Photo)

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted another cold wave for the city on Tuesday, when the minimum temperatures are likely to drop to 4 degrees Celsius.

The temperatures are likely to remain low for at least a couple of days after that, officials said.

“The minimum night temperature is very likely to stay 4-5 degrees below normal for the next two days over some parts of northwest India,” the IMD said.

“The temperature within the city varies between 1 and 1.5 degrees and a cold wave is expected over the next couple of days,” said BP Yadav, deputy director general, IMD.

The weather department declares a cold wave condition if the temperature drops to 4 degrees Celsius or below and such condition continues for at least two days.

The temperature is expected to rise mid-week again with the city likely to experience another bout of rainfall then.

On Thursday, the minimum temperature is likely to rise to 9 degrees and then drop by a degree for the rest of the week. The IMD has predicted a light rainfall or drizzle on Wednesday, followed by thundershower or hail on Thursday evening and Friday.

“This thundershower event is because of coming together of the western disturbances that bring moisture from the Arabian Sea and the easterly waves bringing in moisture from the Bay of Bengal. Rainfall is expected not only over Delhi but across other northern states too,” said Yadav.

The western disturbance is also likely to bring rain and snowfall to the western Himalayan region, with heavy rainfall predicted over isolated places in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, said the IMD.