Delhi this year witnessed the coldest November in 71 years, with the mean minimum temperature dropping to 10.2 degrees Celsius, PTI reported on Monday, quoting the India Meteorological Department.
Normally, the mean minimum temperature for the month of November is 12.9 degrees Celsius. It had last touched 10.2 degrees Celsius in the November of 1949, according to the meteorological department.
Data showed that Delhi also experienced four “cold waves” in November on the 3rd, 20th, 23rd and 24th. For the plain regions, the meteorological department declares a “cold wave” when the minimum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or below and is 4.5 notches less than normal for two consecutive days.
“However, for small areas such as Delhi, a cold wave can be declared if the criteria is fulfilled even for a day,” Kuldeep Srivastava, who heads the IMD’s regional forecasting centre, told PTI.
On Monday, Delhi recorded a minimum of 6.9 degrees Celsius, making it the eighth day this month when the minimum temperature remained below 10 degrees Celsius. On November 23, Delhi recorded a minimum of 6.3 degrees Celsius, its lowest minimum temperature in the month since November 2003, when the city recorded a minimum of 6.1 degrees Celsius, according to Srivastava.
The minimum temperature this month has remained 2-3 degree Celsius below normal in the absence of a cloud cover on most days, according to IMD officials.
In a release on Sunday, the weather department said that the minimum temperatures are likely to stay below normal in most parts of north, northwest, central and few parts of east India, between December and February.
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