 "Winter,IMD Weather Alert")
North India entered 2024 bracing cold wave conditions and foggy morning on Monday with minimum temperature dropping below 10 degrees Celsius (C) at many places, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. While Delhi's official weather station, Safdarjung Observatory, recorded the minimum temperature at 10.1 degrees Celsius, the Ridge weather station noted the city's lowest temperature at 8.6 degrees Celsius on Monday. On the last day of 2023, the minimum temperature at the Safdarjung station was recorded at 11 degrees Celsius.
Overall, Rajasthan's Sikar district topped the list with a minimum temperature of 6 degrees C while dense fog shrouded the entire North Indian belt, disrupting flight and train services due to decreased visibility. The IMD has also warned about cold day conditions in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana today.
Colder week ahead
Meanwhile, the weather body cautioned that the mercury is likely to plunge further in the first week of January 2024 in Delhi, with temperature hovering between 10 and 7 degrees Celsius at the Safdarjung station. The IMD also issued a 'dense' to 'very dense' fog and cold wave warning for Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and UP, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh among other states for the week ahead.
According to the IMD, 'very dense' fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres, 51 and 200 metres is 'dense', 201 and 500 metres 'moderate', and 501 and 1,000 metres' shallow'.
The IMD alerted about dense to very dense fog during night and morning hours in many parts of Punjab on Monday-Tuesday and in some parts over the next three days. Some areas of Haryana, Chandigarh and UP will also likely witness up to very dense fog during the morning and night hours till Tuesday and in isolated pockets over the subsequent three days, the IMD noted.
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A similar situation will prevail in Rajasthan and Uttarakhand for the same period, while the dense fog is likely in states including MP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Mizoram, and Manipur, the weather office said.
Rainfall forecast
As per the IMD, due to a fresh easterly wave and a low-pressure area over West Equatorial Indian Ocean and adjoining south-east Arabian Sea, southern India, including south Tamil Nadu, south Kerala and Lakshadweep, is expected to receive light to moderate rainfall till January 4. Additionally, the northern states of UP, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh may receive light isolated rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday.
