3.3°C: Season’s coldest morning in city

3.3°C: Season’s coldest morning in city

New Delhi:20.12.2021

The capital woke up to the coldest morning of the season on Sunday with a minimum temperature of 4.6

degrees Celsius at Safdarjung, even as the weather department declared “cold wave” conditions in parts of the city with Jafarpur shivering at 3.3 degrees C and Lodhi Road recording 3.6 degrees, reports Kushagra Dixit.

Strong, icy northwesterly winds sweeping across the northern plains for the second day have suddenly brought on harsh winter conditions in the region, with both “cold day” and “cold wave” conditions in parts of the city. Similar weather is likely on Monday, the met department said.

North By Northwest: Himalayan Winds To Blame For Decembrrr

Temperatures May Rise A Bit From Tuesday

However, with another western disturbance lurking round the corner, conditions may turn warmer by Tuesday as the wind direction reverses.

“Harsh winter conditions are here due to stronger northwesterly winds which flow from the higher Himalayan mountains and are icy cold. Isolated areas of the city have experienced a cold wave, and that may continue through Monday. However, there will be a break thereafter due to a change in wind direction,” said R K Jenamani, senior scientist at India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The weatherman said cold wave conditions in the region depend directly on the speed of northwesterly winds. When a western disturbance approaches the region, the wind direction changes to easterly and the mercury rises.

“Yesterday (Saturday), the wind speeds were 30-40 kmph which led to a cold day and a subsequent cold wave on Sunday at isolated places and quite low minimum temperatures at other places. But the maximum temperatures soared slightly on Sunday comparatively because the wind speed dropped to 10-20 kmph on Sunday. The speed may further drop and there will be a western disturbance, which will also lead to slight clouding on or after Tuesday. This will lead to a rise in minimum temperatures,” said Jenamani.

A western disturbance (WD) is a flow of moisture-laden winds from the Mediterranean Sea region to the Himalayas that forms a lowpressure area and sometimes leads to rain and snow in northern India. As the WD moves further east, northwesterly winds resume in the region, again leading to a dip in temperatures.

According to the IMD, Safdarjung (considered the city’s main weather station) recorded a maximum and minimum temperature of 19.2 degrees Celsius, while the minimum was recorded at 4.6 degrees Celsius — both three notches below the day’s average.

On Monday, the maximum and minimum temperature in the city are likely to hover around 19 and 4 degrees Celsius, with the IMD forecasting possibility of a cold wave. A cold wave happens when the minimum temperature is less than or equal to four degrees Celsius and it’s at least four degrees below normal.

Meanwhile, city’s air quality remained within poor category due to moderate winds that helped flush the pollutants out. The air quality index, on a scale of 0 to 500, was 271 on Sunday, against 291 a day earlier.

CAQM likely to further ease restrictions on construction activities: The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) is likely to further ease the curbs on construction and demolition activities in Delhi-NCR in view of a significant improvement in the air quality over the last three days, an official said on Sunday.A decision is likely as early as Monday, he said.

“In view of the significant improvement in the air quality in NCR over the last three days, the CAQM is likely to further liberalise restrictions in the construction sector,” the official said.

The commission had on Friday said the restrictions on construction and demolition activities in Delhi-NCR will continue till further orders.

However, projects related to public utilities, railways, metro, airports and ISBTs, national security, defence, healthcare, highways, roads, flyovers, power transmission, and pipelines among others had been exempted.

The central air quality panel had also allowed authorities in Delhi-NCR to resume physical classes for students in classes 6 and above, colleges and other educational institutions with immediate effect. The commission had also said that physical classes for students up to class 5 can begin from December 27. PTI