Severe cold wave to hit India, Check IMD full forecast

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday informed that several north Indian states such as Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, and union territories Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir witnessed severe cold wave conditions as the mercury dropped to near freezing temperature.

According to the weather monitoring agency, the national capital Delhi saw a chilly Sunday morning as the minimum temperature stood at 4.6 degrees Celsius, the season’s lowest recorded so far.

Besides, Rajasthan’s Churu reported the lowest minimum temperature of minus 2.6 degrees Celsius in northwest India followed by Sikar (minus 2.5 degrees Celsius) and Amritsar (minus 0.5 degrees Celsius).

Why cold wave in north and north-west India

IMD said that dry northwesterly winds of about 10-15 kmph and markedly below normal maximum temperatures are prevailing over Punjab, Haryana, and north Rajasthan for the past three days, causing the adverse impact of cold wave conditions. The dry northwesterly winds are likely to continue to prevail over plains of Northwest India till 21st December, IMD said in a tweet.

Cold wave/ dense fog conditions to prevail in these states

States such as Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and union territory Delhi will be reporting a big drop in mercury in the coming days as per the IMD predictions.

“Cold Wave to Severe Cold Wave conditions very likely to prevail over some parts of north Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, north Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh till December 21, 2021,” according to the weather agency.

The weather agency said dense fog is predicted in a few regions of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh during next three days and Punjab, Assam , Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura will also witness dense fog on December 19 and 20.

Whereas ground frost conditions likely in the morning hours in isolated pockets very likely to occur over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and north Rajasthan during next two days.

Cold and dry northwesterly winds, gusting up to 15 kmph, are likely to continue over the plains of northwest India till Tuesday, “enhancing the adverse impact of cold wave and cold day conditions”, the weather office said.

According to IMD, “very dense” fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres, 51 and 200 is “dense”, 201 and 500 “moderate”, and 501 and 1,000 metres “shallow”.

In the plains, the IMD declares a cold wave if the minimum temperature dips to 4 degrees Celsius. 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 from normal is more than 6.4 degrees Celsius.

When the minimum temperature is less than or equal to 10 degrees Celsius and the maximum temperature is at least 4.5 degrees Celsius below the normal, it is said to be a ‘cold day’.

Next Story:

Now you can get latest stories from Hydnow everyday. Click the link to subscribe. Click to follow Hydnow Facebook page and Twitter and on Instagram