Delhi on Sunday recorded its coldest morning of the season after the mercury dipped to 3.4 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department said, reported PTI. This was five notches below the normal temperature.

“The maximum temperature is likely to settle around 22 degrees Celsius,” an IMD official told the news agency.

The mercury dipped to 3.3 degrees Celsius at Lodhi Road as icy winds from snow-laden Western Himalayas engulfed the city, the IMD said.

The city had recorded a “severe cold” day on Thursday as the maximum temperature dropped to 15.2 degrees Celsius, seven notches below normal and the lowest this season so far. However, it rose to 19.8 degrees Celsius on Friday, and 21.8 degrees Celsius on Saturday.

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A “cold day” is when the minimum temperature is less than 10 degrees Celsius and the maximum temperature is at least 4.4 degrees Celsius below normal, while a “severe” cold day is when the maximum temperature is at least 6.5 notches below normal.

Cold wave conditions are likely to persist over Delhi for a few days Kuldeep Srivastava, head of the regional weather forecasting centre, told the Hindustan Times. “Cold day conditions have abated in most parts of northwest India which means there is clear sunshine, which is able to warm the surface,” he added. “The layer of fog has moved away.”

He said the weather department was expecting a western disturbance to impact the region around December 22, when moisture will increase and dense fog was likely in the entire region. “There may be cold wave conditions also,” Srivastava added.

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Besides Delhi, cold wave to severe cold day conditions are “very likely” over parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh, and at isolated places in Rajasthan, in the next 24 hours, the IMD said in its daily bulletin.

Dense to very dense fog is also expected in parts of Northwest India from Sunday, while dense fog is likely in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab in the next 24 hours, the weather department said.