Cold wave likely next week, predict experts

The minimum temperature is expected to fall to 5 degrees Celsius around Sunday and stay the same for two to three days, leading to a cold wave condition in the city,

The minimum temperature is expected to fall to 5 degrees Celsius around Sunday and stay the same for two to three days, leading to a cold wave condition in the city, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

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A cold wave is declared when a meteorological subdivision sees a minimum temperature of fewer than 4 degrees Celsius below normal in at least two stations for two days.

IMD scientists said the normal minimum temperature for the next week is around 10 degrees Celsius, and that it is likely the minimum temperature would deviate from the normal by around four to five degrees between February 9 and 11.

“A cold wave is predicted around Monday or Tuesday. The northwesterly winds will bring in the cold from the mountains to the northern plains including the National Capital Region (NCR) around Sunday. The sky will be clear during the day leading to the normal maximum temperature, but will give way to cold winds during the night,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, senior scientist at the IMD.

On Friday, the minimum temperature fell to 6.2 degrees Celsius from 7.3 degrees Celsius the previous day, according to the MeT department. The maximum temperature, however, saw no difference and was recorded at 19.7 degrees Celsius on Friday and Thursday.

The air quality in the city on Friday deteriorated to the ‘poor’ category and was recorded at 250 by the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) air quality index (AQI) bulletin at 4pm. On Thursday, Gurugram had an AQI of 166 (moderate), as per CPCB data.

According to air quality experts, the fall in AQI was a result of low wind speed (around 6 kmph) and a fall in minimum temperature.

Air quality is likely to be in the poor category for the next three days as wind speeds are expected to remain sluggish over the next three days, between 6 to 10kmph, said a CPCB official. It is unlikely that air quality will improve significantly the next week as similar weather conditions are expected to continue, the official said.

Particulate matter (PM) 2.5 levels on Friday were at a maximum of 175ug/m3, according to the CPCB’s air quality monitor at Vikas Sadan in Sector 11. Thursday’s PM2.5 levels were recorded at 160ug/m3. According to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, the permissible limit of PM 2.5 in air is 60ug/m3.