Delhi’s Minimum at 10 Degrees; IMD May Declare Cold Wave Tomorrow

Snowfall in higher altitudes of Himachal Pradesh have led to cold winds sweeping in to Delhi.

(Photo: PTI)

With the advent of winter, the temperatures in the national capital dropped to ten degrees Celsius, causing the India Meteorological Department to say that they’ll declare a cold wave in the city if the situation persists for another day, PTI reported.

They added that November 2020 is expected to be the coldest over the last four-five years. Head of regional forecasting centre of IMD, Kuldeep Srivastava said below normal temperatures will continue for the next few days.

Explaining the criteria to declare a cold wave, Srivastava said that IMD declares a cold wave when the minimum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or below and is 4.5 notches less than normal for two consecutive days.  

The senior IMD scientist said the minimum temperature is expected to be recorded in single digits in the next three to four days. Explaining the low temperatures Srivastava said that the absence of clouds, which would other trap and return some of the infrared radiation, is the cause. Adding that snowfall in higher altitudes of Himachal Pradesh have led to cold winds sweeping in.

The month of October was the coldest in 58 years in the national capital, according to IMD.  

The mean minimum temperature in October this year was 17.2 degrees Celsius, the lowest since 1962, when it was 16.9 degrees Celsius, it said.

(With inputs from PTI)