Severe Cold Hits North India; Cold Wave Conditions To Continue Over Three States For Next 3 Days

The national capital Delhi saw a chilly Sunday morning as the minimum temperature remained at 4.6 degrees Celsius, the season lowest recorded so far.

The dry northwesterly winds are likely to continue to prevail over plains of Northwest India till 21st December, IMD said in a tweet. 

On Saturday, the mercury plummeted to near freezing in Rajasthan's Churu, causing a severe cold to strike northern India. 

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), cold wave to severe cold wave conditions have been prevailing in some parts of north Rajasthan and Punjab, while cold wave conditions have been prevailing in isolated pockets over Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan-Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, north Rajasthan, and north Madhya Pradesh. 

"Additionally, dry northwesterly winds of about 10-15 kmph and markedly below normal Maximum Temperatures have been prevailing over Punjab, Haryana, and north Rajasthan for the past three days, enhancing the adverse impact of cold wave conditions which are likely to prevail during the next three days and improve thereafter," the IMD said. 

Churu has reported the lowest minimum temperature of -1.1°C followed by Amritsar at 0.7°C and Ganganagar at 1.1°C. 

According to the weather service, dense fog occurred in scattered pockets across Haryana, Uttarakhand, and Bihar today, with shallow to moderate fog in isolated pockets of Punjab and isolated pockets over Delhi, north Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. 

According to the weather department, intense fog is predicted in a few districts of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh during the next three days, as well as Punjab, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura on December 19 and 20. 

Ground frost conditions are quite possible in the morning hours in scattered pockets over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and north Rajasthan for the next two days. 

Resultantly, the visibility also remained low creating difficult driving conditions with slower journey times.