The winter chill in the Capital is set to aggravate in a couple of days with rains likely to lash the city due to western disturbance. This coupled with the icy wind blowing across the city would lead to a dip in minimum temperature by at least two degrees from Monday.
With freezing northerly winds rushing from Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, which witnessed heavy snowfall on Sunday, the night temperature in Delhi will plummet by 2°C-3°C further. The weather department has also predicted rains due to western disturbances towards the later half of the coming week.
The national Capital on Sunday witnessed shallow fog during the early morning and the visibility was 800 metre. The maximum temperature on Sunday was recorded as 17.4°C and the minimum was recorded at 12°C. “While according to the forecast the maximum temperature is expected to rise to 18°C, the minimum temperature is likely to plunge further to 11°C. The night temperature will continue to plummet 2-3 notches below the normal due to chilly northerlies flowing from the other States such as Himachal Pradesh,” said DP Yadav, director of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).
He added that the city will continue to experience shallow fog throughout the week and ruled out dense fog conditions with extremely low visibility in the coming week. “The city may also witness its first winter rain post Christmas, with western disturbance hitting the national Capital. The rain and snow in States such as Jammu and Kashmir is going to have a bearing on the weather in Delhi in the form of decreased temperatures,” added Yadav.
The western disturbance over Jammu & Kashmir is responsible for rain and snow in North India. It is now likely to move northeastwards to make the weather conditions clear in the region. Another western disturbance is expected over Jammu & Kashmir by the start of the weekend from December 26 resulting in rain in Delhi.
The temperature could have plunged further, if due to the western disturbance Delhi would have experienced slight rainfall on Sunday. Barring Delhi, North India received its first winter rain in the past 24 hours. Many places in the northwest plains, including Pathankot, Amritsar, ludhiana, Adamput, Ambala and Chandigarh in Punjab received adequate rainfall. Other States, including Haryana, west Uttar Pradesh and some parts of Uttarakhand and Dehradun, also received rain.