Delhi Records Lowest Temperature Of Season: Skips Cold Wave And Fog
Image: AI-Skymet
Key Takeaways
- Delhi has begun December on a sharply colder note, with minimum temperatures staying in single digits and below normal.
- A western disturbance is influencing the northern mountains, but no rainfall is expected over the plains.
- Strengthening low-level winds may drop Delhi’s temperature slightly before a marginal rise returns.
- Winter fog is unusually absent this season due to lack of humidity and no rain-bearing systems.
Month of December has made a cold start in Delhi. Minimum temperature has remained in single digits and below normal. On 01st Dec itself, the capital city observed cold wave conditions with the minimum dropping to 5.7°C, about 4.6°C below the average. Base station Safdarjung has registered a minimum of 5.6°C today. This is the lowest minimum so far. Due to a rise in the pentad normal in the first week, this is about 3.9°C lower than average and so remains outside the range of the cold wave criterion.
There is a western disturbance moving across Jammu & Kashmir as an upper air system. Sky conditions have become cloudy, with medium and high clouds over Srinagar, Leh, Jammu, Pathankot and adjoining areas. However, there is no wet weather activity as such. Another weak western disturbance is approaching the Western Himalayas on 05th Dec and will take about 48 hours to clear the mountainous terrain. Meanwhile, the low-level winds are becoming slightly stronger along the foothills and adjoining regions of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. While the approach of a western disturbance typically leads to a rise in mercury, the strengthening of winds increases the chill factor. Under the combined influence of the two, the temperature over Delhi and neighbouring areas may drop marginally in the next 24 hours. Thereafter, the minimum is likely to go up by a degree or so.
The winter fog has strangely skipped Delhi/NCR so far. The whitish canopy of gloomy fog, typical of Delhi winters, continues to wait in the wings. As a norm, the month of November has 12 foggy days, which goes up by another week to 19 days in December. This includes visibility drops on account of toxic and polluted air as well. Yet, moist fog does show up at least a couple of days in November and becomes more frequent in December. Distinctive winter fog invariably gets triggered by the passage of an active western disturbance. Appreciable rise in humidity levels is essential for the occurrence of fog. The seasonal phenomenon will keep evading the region unless some rains visit the plains of North India. There is no such chance likely over the next one week or even longer. Despite the increase in morning chill and nip in the air, prolonged absence of thick and dense fog is diluting the winter feel for Delhiites.
