Despite sunny weather in many parts of the country on Sunday, biting cold awaits several parts of northern India in the next few days. India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted further fall in minimum temperatures by 4-6 degrees Celsius over northwest and adjoining central India and by 2-4 degrees Celsius over east India for the next three days. Dense fog would prevail over major parts of the country.
Rain/thundershowers would, however, may occur in certain places of peninsular India besides parts of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. According to weather experts, the low pressure over the Bay of Bengal, which brought rain in most parts of the country during the past few days, is dissipating. This will bring the mercury down again in most parts of the country. There will be clear sky, which will cause temperature to dip sharply at night. However, this spell of winter will be short-lived.
Further, Western disturbances in north India, especially Jammu & Kashmir, are hindering cold winds. Once the flow of wind is streamlined, it will bring down temperatures further, said IMD sources.
While the mercury in Srinagar city has plunged to -5.4 degrees Celsius, the surface of Dal lake continues to be frozen. As per the IMD forecast, the weather was likely to remain dry and cold in the State for at least 24 hours.
The higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh are also in the grip of a severe cold wave. Fresh snowfall has been reported in Chamba district of the State and most lakes in the area are frozen with temperatures falling to -9 degrees Celsius.
The weathermen have predicted that dense fog is almost certain for a couple of days due to the impact of western disturbance and the intensity of rainfall would depend on the departure of the cloud cover in a particular area due to the low-pressure over Bay of Bengal.
Such a situation will cause cold conditions in many parts of the country from Monday. The frequency of western disturbance is usually the highest in January compared to December and February. Western disturbances are low-pressure areas or extra-tropical storms originating from the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea and Caspian Sea.
While moving eastward, they cause winter rain in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. Rainfall caused by western disturbance leaves large amount of moisture in the air, which leads to consequent dense fog formation when the wind speed is comparatively low.
According to the observations of IMD, minimum temperatures are below normal by 2-3 degrees Celsius at a few places over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and other parts of the country. The regions, however, saw a slight increase in mercury after the rainy spell.
According to weather experts, this is because the sea surface is always comparatively warmer than the landmass during winters. Thus, the winds coming from the Bay of Bengal owing to the low-pressure are warm which in turn led to this rise in temperature.