A representative image of two men in Delhi warming their hands at an outdoor fire. Photo: PTI.
New Delhi: A cold wave gripped Delhi on Monday as the minimum temperature dropped to 6.3º C, five degrees below ‘normal’ and the lowest in the month of November since 2003, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
On Sunday, the national capital had recorded a minimum of 6.9º C and a maximum of 24.2º C, the lowest day-time temperature so far this month.
“The Safdarjung Observatory which provides representative data for the city, recorded a minimum of 6.3 degrees Celsius, which is Delhi’s lowest minimum temperature in the month since November 2003, when the city recorded a minimum of 6.1 degrees Celsius,” Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD’s regional forecasting centre, said.
The mercury dropped to 6.4º C at the Lodhi Road weather station, he added.
For the plains, the IMD declares a cold wave when the minimum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or below and is 4.5 degrees less than normal for two consecutive days.
“However, for small areas such as Delhi, a cold wave can be declared if the criteria is fulfilled even for a day,” Srivastava said.
Delhi had recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 11.5º C last year, 10.5º C in 2018 and 7.6º Celsius in 2017 in November.
The all-time record for the lowest minimum temperature in November is 3.9 degrees Celsius recorded on November 28, 1938.
Srivastava said icy cold winds blowing from snow-laden western Himalayas have led to a dip in the mercury.
However, the minimum temperature is expected to rise by two to three degrees in the next four or five days, under the influence of a fresh western disturbance.
The minimum temperature this month, barring on November 16, has remained 2-3º C below normal in the absence of a cloud cover, according to IMD officials.
Clouds trap some of the outgoing infrared radiation and radiate it back towards the ground, warming it.
The month of October was the coldest in 58 years in the national capital. The mean minimum temperature in October this year was 17.2º C – the lowest since 1962, when it was 16.9º C.