File photo of people seen walking under a thick layer of fog that lasted till noon on the Duty Road in New Delhi on January 15, 2023. The city’s base station, dropped to 1.4 degrees Celsius, the lowest in the month since January 1, 2021. Image for representation purposes only. , Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
Cold wave wreaked havoc in Delhi on Monday with the minimum temperature at the Safdarjung observatory, the city’s base station, falling to 1.4 degrees Celsius, the lowest in the month since January 1, 2021.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the mercury could drop by up to 1 degree Celsius on Tuesday. If this happens, it will be the lowest minimum temperature in the city in at least 15 years.
The minimum temperature recorded at Safdarjung on January 1, 2021 was 1.1°C. The minimum temperature was recorded at 1.9 degree Celsius on January 8 this year.
The lowest ever recorded was minus 0.6 degree Celsius on January 16, 1935.
The minimum temperature in the national capital has dropped by nearly nine degrees in just two days. It was 10.2 degree Celsius on Saturday and 4.7 degree Celsius on Sunday.
The weather station at Lodhi Road, where the IMD headquarters is located, recorded a minimum temperature of 1.6 degrees Celsius on Monday morning.
Southwest Delhi’s Ayanagar recorded a minimum temperature of 2.8 degrees Celsius, central Delhi’s Ridge two degrees Celsius and west Delhi’s Jafarpur 2.2 degrees Celsius.
Delhi witnessed intense cold wave from January 5 to 9, the second longest duration in the month in a decade, according to IMD data.
Over 50 hours of dense fog have been recorded so far this month, which is the highest since 2019.
A senior IMD official said that due to clear sky, there will be good sunshine in Delhi and there will be no fog and the day temperature will be normal.
“Cold wave conditions will prevail during the night and morning hours. So this cold wave cannot be compared with the previous ones,” he said.
Mahesh Palawat, a senior meteorologist at Skymet Weather, said Western Disturbance (WD) caused heavy snowfall in the Himalayan region and cold northwesterly winds started blowing in the plains after the WD retreated on January 14.
“The sharp drop in temperature is due to clear skies, which allowed infrared radiation (heat from the Sun) to escape back into space at night,” he said.
The IMD had earlier issued an orange warning of cold wave in Delhi till January 17-18.
The MeT office said on Monday that cold wave conditions would abate from January 19 under the influence of two western disturbances, which are likely to affect the region in quick succession.
When a western disturbance – a weather system characterized by warm moist winds from the Middle East – approaches an area, the wind direction changes. The cold north-westerly winds coming from the mountains stop blowing, due to which the temperature rises.
In the plains, a cold wave is declared if the minimum temperature falls to 4°C or when it falls below 10°C and 4.5° below normal.
A severe cold wave occurs when the minimum temperature drops by 2 °C or the departure from the normal range is more than 6.4 °C.