Brief relief likely from extreme cold over northwest India

There is no likelihood of "cold day" conditions over northwest and central India during the next three days, IMD said in its bulletin

Northwest India is likely to experience relief soon from extremely cold conditions. India Meteorological Department (IMD) is expecting a gradual rise in minimum and maximum temperatures by 2-3 degree Celsius over the plains of the northwest and adjoining central India during the next 48 hours.

Strong surface wind (with speeds reaching 10-20 kmph) are likely over parts of northwest India and adjoining Indo-Gangetic plains during the next 24 hours. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

There is no likelihood of "cold day" conditions (when day temperatures are very low) over northwest and central India during the next three days and "cold wave" conditions (when the minimum temperature drops very low) are likely to abate from Monday, IMD said in its bulletin.

Both "cold day" and "cold wave" conditions may continue over east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and interior Odisha, and the current spell of cold wave/cold day conditions, and dense to very dense fog are likely to continue at a few places over east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and interior Odisha during next two days.

On Sunday, the coldest region was Drass with a minimum temperature of -27.3 degrees Celsius, Keylong recorded -11 degrees Celsius, Pantnagar in Uttarakhand recorded 0.8 degrees Celsius, Adampur in Punjab recorded 0 degrees Celsius, Narnaul in Haryana recorded 2.4 degrees Celsius and Delhi recorded 3.4 degrees Celsius.

“We are expecting a western disturbance due to which there may be some clouding and both maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to go up,” said Kuldeep Shrivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre.

IMD has warned that ground frost very likely at some places over Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and north Rajasthan during the next 24 hours.

Strong surface wind (with speeds reaching 10-20 kmph) are likely over parts of northwest India and adjoining Indo-Gangetic plains during the next 24 hours.

Many towns and cities in northwest India have started recording “very poor” air quality. Bulandshahr, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut and Noida had air quality index readings of over 300, in the "very poor" zone. According to the air quality early warning system under ministry of earth sciences, air quality in Delhi will start deteriorating further from Tuesday because winds are likely to slow down.