Temperature Dip To Zero In Haryana And Rajasthan, Delhi Shivers At 3.5, Mercury To Drop Further
Most parts of northern India are under the grip of an intense cold spell, and the temperature is likely to fall further before there is some respite.
On Tuesday, parts of Haryana and Rajsthan recorded temperatures touching zero degrees Celcius.
On Wednesday, the national capital saw the minimum temperature dipping to 3.5 degrees Celsius.
It is likely to get even colder on New Year's Eve, IMD has predicted, as dry and icy winds barrelled through the plains.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), a western disturbance led to "scattered to fairly widespread" snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
In the plains, the 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 less.
Cold wave conditions are predicted in parts of the city over the next two days, it said.
Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the regional forecasting centre of the IMD, said cold and dry northerly/northwesterly winds from the western Himalayas have been barrelling through the plains, bringing the minimum temperature in north India down.
According to the IMD, a cold wave is also declared when the minimum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or below and is 4.5 notches less than normal.
A "severe" cold wave is when the minimum temperature dips to two degrees Celsius or the departure is more than 6.4 degrees Celsius.
On December 20, the Safdarjung Observatory recorded a minimum of 3.4 degrees Celsius, the lowest this season so far.
On Tuesday, the IMD had issued an Orange Alert for Delhi-NCR and a red alert for Punjab due to the intense cold wave.
In Himachal Pradesh, Keylong, Kalpa, Dalhousie and Kufri shivered at sub-zero temperature, Shimla Met centre director Manmohan Singh said, adding that Keylong also received 0.6 mm snowfall.
Lahaul-Spiti's administrative centre Keylong remained the coldest place in the state at minus 10.3 degrees Celsius, Singh said.?
Kalpa in Kinnaur district recorded a low of minus 6 degrees Celsius, he added.?
The minimum temperature in Dalhousie, Manali, Kufri, Seobagh, Solan and Bhuntar settled at minus 2.9, minus 2.6 and minus 0.2 degrees Celsius, minus 1.5, minus 0.4 and minus 0.1 degrees Celsius, respectively.
