Delhi's minimum temperature drops to 3.6 degree Celsius
Delhi reeled under a cold wave on Tuesday as icy winds sweeping through the city brought the minimum temperature down to 3.6 degree Celsius, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. The Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative data for Delhi, recorded a low of 3.6 degree Celsius as against 5.6 degree Celsius on Monday.
The observatory said that the weather stations at Ayanagar and Lodhi Road recorded 2.6 degree Celsius and 2.7 degree Celsius, respectively. On December 20, the city recorded 3.4 degree Celsius, the lowest this year. The IMD said the mercury may drop further by New Year's Eve. Cold wave conditions are predicted in parts of the city over the next three days, it said.
In the plains, the IMD declares a cold wave if the minimum temperature dips to 4 degree Celsius. A severe cold wave is when the minimum is 2 degree Celsius or less.
Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the regional forecasting center of the IMD, said a western disturbance led to "scattered to fairly widespread" snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. "Cold and dry northerly/northwesterly winds from the western Himalayas have been barrelling through the plains, bringing the minimum temperature in north India down," he added.
Meanwhile, Delhi's air quality was recorded in the "poor" category on Tuesday morning. The city's air quality index (AQI) was 237 at 9 am. The 24-hour average was 253 on Monday, 396 on Sunday, 337 on Saturday, 357 on Friday, 423 on Thursday, and 433 on Wednesday. IMD officials said favorable wind speed, up to 15 kmph, aided in the dispersion of pollutants.
