Tuesday, November 15: Almost as if to greet the winter season, temperatures have begun plummeting across parts of North India, making residents adorn their winter fits already. Surprisingly, even east Madhya Pradesh witnessed drooping mercuries earlier this week, and this trend is very likely to continue as the week progresses.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the minimum temperatures over most parts of Northwest India and Madhya Pradesh will fall by 2-4°C during the next 3-4 days.
In New Delhi, minimum temperatures should hang around 16°C till Wednesday and then gradually drop to 12-13°C by Saturday. Mist or fog is likely to accent the chill during this time. Maximum temperatures in the capital will hover around 27-28°C from Wednesday to Sunday (November 16-20).
However, these numbers are paltry compared to Amritsar, which will likely witness a minimum temperature drop from 11°C on Tuesday to a shivering 9°C on Friday. Thankfully, the mercury will start climbing back up for the Punjab city come weekend, returning to 12°C by Sunday. A fairly similar situation will be observed in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun, where temperatures will hover around 9-10°C for a good portion of the week.
As for Rajasthan, temperatures in Jaipur will drastically drop from 15°C on Tuesday to 11°C on Sunday. However, residents should endure 12°C weather most of the week. Chandigarh city will fare similarly, with temperatures hovering around 12-14°C for the rest of the week. The city will be at its coldest around Thursday to Friday.
Departing western disturbance to blame
This cooling trend is being driven by frigid northwesterly winds that helped drop Delhi’s temperatures by over four degrees in the past four days. This newfound chill shivered the nation’s capital with freezing 12.6°C last Saturday (November 19), with meteorologists warning that it could get even colder in the coming days.
According to RK Jenamani, an IMD scientist, a western disturbance (WD) that resolved around last weekend can be credited for this Christmas-like weather that dipped early morning temperatures in some parts of Jammu & Kashmir to unforgiving -15°C on Tuesday.
These western disturbances are low-pressure areas that originate in the Caspian and Mediterranean Seas, pick up moisture as they move eastwards, and subsequently bring rain and snow over parts of North and Northwest India.
Elaborating on the impact of the latest WD, Jenamani told The Hindustan Times: “The wind direction was southeasterly prior to [Friday] and the minimum was hovering around the 17-degree mark. We generally see a rise in minimum temperature when a WD interacts with a region and southeasterly winds are warmer. Since the WD, we have also seen snowfall in places and once northwesterly winds blow from that direction, it is bound to impact temperatures accordingly.”