Maharashtra cold spell breaks record, Pune’s 5 degrees Celsius lowest in 100 years

The ongoing cool spell in Mumbai broke a record on Saturday, with the mercury dipping to 11 Celsius in the morning — the coldest this winter and the lowest for February since 2012.

The ongoing cool spell in Mumbai broke a record on Saturday, with the mercury dipping to 11 Celsius in the morning — the coldest this winter and the lowest for February since 2012.

People sit around camp fire on a winter evening at Gujarwadi in Pune, India, on Saturday. (Rahul Raut/HT PHOTO)

While minimum temperature recorded at Santacruz weather station at 11 degrees C was 7 degrees below normal for this time of year, the Colaba weather station recorded 15.6 degrees C, 4 degrees below normal.

Mumbai has been experiencing cool conditions since Wednesday due to northerly winds prevailing close to the surface, the weather bureau said. There have been sharp fluctuations in day temperatures, with a 11.1 degrees C drop in day temperatures between Monday, when it was 35.3 degrees, and Friday, when it dipped to 24.2 degrees. This is the lowest for February in 10 years.

“The lower level northerly to north-westerly winds due to the western disturbance and weather systems over northwest parts of the country continue to keep temperatures 6-7 degrees Celsius below normal. Similar conditions are expected till Monday,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director-general, western region, India Meteorological Department (IMD).

On Saturday, most of automatic weather stations in the city recorded minimum temperatures between 11 and 16 degrees Celsius.

Pune shivers as mercury drops

The drop in mercury was also seen in Pune, which recorded the decade’s lowest temperature at 5.2 degrees C. This was also the city’s lowest temperature in February in 100 years, according to IMD data. On December 29, 2018, Pune recorded 5.9 degrees C.

According to the IMD, northerly winds flowing in from Jammu and Kashmir via Rajasthan and Gujarat are responsible for the cold wave like conditions in the state.

Frozen dew drops in Mahabaleshwar

Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra’s popular hill station, woke up to frozen dew drops on Saturday with minimum temperature at Venna Lake dipping to one degree Centigrade, the lowest this winter.

The Regional Wheat Rust Research Station at Venna Lake recorded 1 degrees Celsius on its campus, while mercury was at -2 degrees Celsius at the lake location, station head Narute TK said.

“We came here from Mumbai to enjoy the weekend. We have seen such a cold morning for the first time. We are lucky to have got a chance to experience real chill,’’ said Amit Yeolekar, a tourist.

The IMD recorded Mahabaleshwar city’s temperature as 9 degrees Celsius.