Delhiites woke up to a cold wave on Wedenesday morning as the minimum temperature dipped to 3.2 degrees Celsius in the national Capital, PTI reported, quoting data from the India Meteorological Department. The weather department said that icy winds blowing from the western Himalayas to the plains were resulting in the weather conditions.
“Cold wave conditions were recorded at the Safdarjung Observatory,” Kulddep Srivastava, the regional forecasting centre head of IMD, told PTI. “It recorded a minimum of 3.2 degrees Celsius, four notches below the normal.” Similar conditions were expected to prevail for the next two days. Srivastava said.
In the plains, IMD declares a cold wave if the minimum temperature dips to 4 degrees Celsius. A severe cold wave is when the minimum is 2 degrees Celsius or below.
The city also experienced a heavy fog cover on Wednesday morning. Visibility was lowered to 50 metres at the Palam observatory and to 200 metres at the Safdarjung observatory. According to IMD, fog is classified as “very dense” when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres, and “dense” when it is between 51 and 200 metres.
Delhi had been registering above-normal minimum temperatures till Monday, as a cloud cover persisted over the city under the influence of successive western disturbances. However, the temperature started dropping with the withdrawal of disturbances, as the northwesterly winds started to blow, IMD said.
Chilly weather gripped neighbouring states as well, with Narnaul city in Haryana witnessing a minimum temperature of 1.4 degrees Celsius, according to PTI. In Hisar too, the mercury stayed under the 2-degrees-Celsius mark.
In Punjab, minimum temperature in major cities like Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala stayed in the range of 3.5 and 6.5 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.
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