E-Paper
Sikar is the coldest and New Delhi the 10th coldest city in India’s plains on Saturday
Indian Meteorological Department said there was no respite in sight from the bitter cold till the arrival of the new year
Eight of India’s ten coldest cities in the plains on Saturday are from Rajasthan and Haryana with Sikar topping the charts with a minimum temperature of -1 degrees Celsius and New Delhi at its bottom with a minimum temperature of 2.4 degrees Celsius, as per the data released by weather forecaster Skymet. Jhansi from Uttar Pradesh also made the list with a minimum temperature of 2.3 degrees Celcius.
Sikar was closely followed by Hisar and Narnaul in Haryana with minimum temperatures hovering around the freezing mark at 0.2 and 0.5 degree Celsius respectively.
Pilani and Churu from Rajasthan were slightly warmer at 0.6 and 1.0 degrees Celsius respectively and therefore occupied the 4th and the 5th spot on the list.
The other two Haryana cities occupying the 6th and the 7th slots on the cold-meter chart were Karnal and Rohtak, where minimum temperatures on Saturday dropped to 1.5 and 1.8 degrees Celsius respectively.
The eighth spot was taken by Rajasthan’s border town of Sri Ganganagar, where a minimum temperature of 2.1 degrees Celsius was recorded.
The minimum temperature in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi, ninth coldest on the list, was two notches above at 2.3 degrees Celcius.
Indian Meteorological Department said there was no respite in sight from the bitter cold till the arrival of the new year, which is likely to be ushered in with rains and hailstorms in major parts of Northwest & Central India and Eastern India.
According to the IMD data Sirsa in Haryana and Punjab in Bathinda were also among the coldest cities with minimum temperatures at 2.0 and 2.3 degrees Celsisus.
Indian Meteorological Department attributed the bone-chilling temperatures to “persistence of cold northwesterly winds” over northwest India and other favourable meteorological conditions.
Visibility in most places in Haryana and Punjab reduced to 600 metres in the dense fog and led to traffic disruptions.
The Safdarjung Observatory recorded the minimum at 2.4 degrees Celsius on Saturday morning. The same temperature was recorded on December 30, 2013. Before that the coldest day in Delhi this month was December 11, 1996, when the minimum was 2.3 degrees Celsius.
The National Capital Region is set to record its second-coldest December since 1901, according to the weather department.
