As northwest India is already under the grip of cold wave conditions, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday predicted a fresh spell of severe cold wave in north India from Makar Sankranti (January 14). The maximum severity of the cold will be felt on January 16 and 17 due to incursion of strong northerly winds with the passing western disturbance. Meanwhile, an online weather forecaster predicted a drop in the minimum temperature to minus 4 degrees Celsius between January 14 and 19 in the plains. The severe chill is likely to be at its peak from January 16 to 18.
“Severe chills are on the horizon between January 14 and 19 and are likely to be at their peak from January 16 to 18, tweeted Navdeep Dahiya, the founder of Live Weather of India, an online weather platform.
“Don’t know how to put this up but the upcoming spell of #Coldwave in #India look really extreme during 14-19th January 2023 with peak on 16-18th, Never seen temperature ensemble going this low in a prediction model so far in my career. Freezing -4°c to +2°c in plains, Wow!,” Dahiya tweeted.
“Also to note this is a historic run so far in 11 days of Jan with the next few days look really cold, #January 2023 can be historically coldest — maybe for the 21st century so far? — will be back with more data inputs post this spell of #Coldwave,” he added.
On the other hand, the IMD predicted fresh spells of dense to very dense fog and isolated cold wave conditions over northwest India from January 15. As per the IMD, the minimum temperature is likely to fall by 2 to 3 degrees in East India after three days. Similarly, there will be a gradual fall in minimum temperatures by 3-6 degrees over Gujarat by January 15 and no significant changes thereafter.
“A fresh spell of dense to very dense fog is very likely in isolated/some pockets during night & morning hours over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi and Uttar Pradesh from 14th to 17th; Dense Fog is very likely in isolated pockets over Jammu division, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand during January 15 to 17 and over North Madhya Pradesh during January 16 and 17,” it said.
An active western disturbance was expected to trigger a 2-4 degrees Celsius rise in minimum temperatures over the north-western plains till Friday. But it warned of a fresh burst of icy chill in the national Capital after that.
Days after recording its third-worst cold spell in 23 years, the minimum temperature in Delhi settled at 9.3 degrees Celsius on Thursday, two notches above the season’s average. The maximum temperature is expected to hover around 19 degrees Celsius, according to the IMD. The maximum temperature in Delhi on Thursday settled at 21.6 degrees Celsius, two notches above the normal, the India Meteorological Department said. The relative humidity at 5.30 pm was 73 per cent.