Cold wave in Noida for rest of the week

The final week of 2020 is expected to be a chilly one with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting a cold wave from Tuesday. Officials added that the

The final week of 2020 is expected to be a chilly one with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting a cold wave from Tuesday. Officials added that the national capital regions will also see moderate to dense fog till December 31.

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A cold wave occurs in the plains when the minimum temperature is 10°C or below and/or is 4.5 notches lesser than the season’s normal for two consecutive days. It is also declared when the minimum temperature is less than 4°C in the plains.

According to the IMD, the wind directions have changed from easterly to the icy cold north westerly from Monday evening.

“Due to the passage of a western disturbance (a wind phenomenon arising from the Mediterranean) the hilly regions have received good snowfall which will start showing its effect from Tuesday onwards when the winds blow from there. The mercury will fall by 3 to 4 °C and reach around 3°C on December 31. The day time temperatures will be around normal,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre, IMD.

According to the IMD, the minimum temperature for Noida on Monday was recorded at 9.8 °C against 7.6 °C a day earlier. The maximum temperature was recorded at 19.1°C against 21.3°C a day earlier.

Over the weekend, the city had seen a rise in temperature due to the comparatively warmer easterly winds.

Meanwhile, the average minimum temperature for the national capital region, based on IMD’s Safdarjung observatory, was recorded at 5.6 °C, as against 6 °C the day before. The average maximum temperature was recorded at 20.9 °C.

“The minimum temperature may fall around 4 °C in average around different spots in NCR including Noida,” said an official at IMD.

“The sky is clear and the icy cold winds will drop the mercury leading to cold morning hours. Since the sky is clear and there are no clouds to trap the heat during the evening hours, there will be nip in the air around evening as well,” said Sriastava.

According to the officials however, the mercury will start rising and fog density reduce from January 1.

AQI IMPROVES

Meanwhile, the air quality of Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad improved markedly due to better ventilation conditions. On Monday, the air quality index (AQI) for Noida, on a scale of 0 to 500, was 225 or “poor” against 405 a day earlier. The AQI for Greater Noida was 237, also “poor”, against 418 or “severe” a day earlier. The AQI of Ghaziabad was 256, also “poor”, against 407 a day earlier.

According to the System of air quality and weather forecasting and research (SAFAR), the air quality would see slight improvement towards Tuesday, however it will start worsening towards Wednesday.

“The AQI is likely to improve to the lower end -end of the “very-poor” to “poor” category for December 28 and 29. AQI is likely to deteriorate thereafter to the middle-end of the “very-poor” category by December 30. Due to the low ventilated conditions, the AQI is likely to touch the higher end of “very-poor” category on December 31 and may touch the “severe” category for a shorter period on New Year’s Eve,” said the SAFAR statement on Sunday.