Winter coming with bigger teeth, get woollens ready, warn experts
Over the last one week, Prayagraj has experienced the climate in the city change rapidly, and weather experts are of the opinion that this is an indication that this year, winter will be one of the chillier ones.
Allahabad University former Geography department faculty member and a weather expert HN Mishra said that the temperature has decreased due to the pressure in the Bay of Bengal and ocean-atmosphere phenomenon called La Nina. “El Nino and La Nina conditions play a dominant role if you consider factors for the occurrence of cold wave conditions,” he said.
Mishra said that La Nina brings in cold wave conditions, while El Nino acts opposite. “This means, the temperature prevalent over the northern part of the country will be low, causing winter to be relatively colder. After 2009, such weather is being seen now in November. Within a week, the cold will intensify,” he said.
“Be prepared for a chilly winter this year, which has set in early (as compared to previous years) and will last till the end of March,” Mishra said.
Compared to November 2019, the mercury is standing three to four degrees lower, especially at night. Experts are expecting a further fall in temperature in the coming days.
They opined that because of the low levels of pollution witnessed across the globe for the past six months (owing to the lockdowns because of the pandemic), Mother Nature is on an auto-correct mode. Because of this, winter has started setting in and will stay for a longer duration, possibly lasting up to March next year, they warn.
On Friday, the maximum temperature of the city was recorded at 31.1 degrees Celsius and 13.2 degrees Celsius on the minimum side. On November 4, the maximum temperature was 31.03 degrees Celsius while the minimum temperature was recorded at 14.06. In comparison to this, on November 4, 2019, the maximum temperature was 32.04 degrees Celsius and the minimum stood at 22.03 degrees Celsius. Present AU Geography department head AR Siddqui said, “This year, the world has witnessed a sharp decline in air pollution because of the global lockdown that was implemented in phases in different countries. Because of this, globally, the climate is on the ‘corrective path’ and as the adverse climate changes have lesser impact, there is a decline in mercury worldwide and as a result, winters could be more intense, both in Western countries as well as in India”.