The Asian Age

Temp dips to 3.1°C as Delhi cold wave stays

Clear skies likely to provide relief

- AGE CORRESPOND­ENT

New Delhi: A cold wave swept the national capital on Sunday morning, with the minimum temperatur­e dipping to 3.1 degrees Celsius, the IMD said. However, clear skies and plenty of sunshine are expected to provide some relief. The maximum temperatur­e is likely to settle around 22 degrees Celsius, an IMD official said.

A cold wave swept the national capital on Sunday morning, with the minimum temperatur­e dipping to 3.1 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorolog­ical Department said.

However, clear skies and plenty of sunshine are expected to provide some relief. The maximum temperatur­e is likely to settle around 22 degrees Celsius, an IMD official said.

This is the fourth coldwave day in Delhi in a week.

In the plains, the IMD declares a cold wave if the minimum temperatur­e dips to 4 degrees Celsius. A severe cold wave is when the minimum is 2 degrees Celsius or less.

The minimum temperatur­e on Tuesday and Thursday had settled at 2.1 degrees Celsius and 3.8 degrees Celsius, respective­ly, due to the cold and dry northweste­rly winds barreling through the plains, the IMD said. Cold wave conditions had prevailed in Delhi on Friday, too, with the minimum temperatur­e settling at four degrees Celsius, five notches below normal.

On Saturday, the minimum temperatur­e in the national capital rose slightly to 5.4 degrees Celsius.

On New Year’s Day, the city had recorded a minimum of 1.1 degrees Celsius, the lowest for the month in 15 years.

Delhi recorded seven “cold wave” days in January, the maximum in the month since 2008, the India Meteorolog­ical Department (IMD) added.

In the plains, the IMD declares a cold wave if the minimum temperatur­e dips to four degrees Celsius. A severe cold wave is when the minimum temperatur­e is two degrees Celsius or less.

“The number of cold wave days in January this year was the maximum since 2008, when 12 such days were recorded," Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD's regional forecastin­g centre here, said.

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