The last active Western Disturbance which approached the hills, gave rains and snowfall activities over Western Himalayas up to January 28. Scattered rains occurred over Northern plains as well.
Since then, the weather is almost dry over Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh as no new active Western Disturbance has approached the Western Himalayas as of now. Wherever there is a prolonged gap between any two weather systems, northerly cold winds start blowing over Northern Plains leading to a drop in temperatures.
Due to these cold northwesterly winds, minimum temperatures have dropped gradually over Northern Plains leading to Cold Wave conditions in parts of Punjab and Haryana as well as in one or two places in Delhi and NCR.
Cold Wave conditions are declared when minimum temperatures are below normal by 4 to 5 degrees when the normal temperature is less than 10 degrees for a location.
However, as the sky is mainly clear over most places at present, therefore, day temperatures are still comfortable over Delhi and NCR as well as in many parts of Punjab and Haryana. Meanwhile, some districts such as Hisar, Karnal and Rohtak in Haryana are witnessing day temperatures below normal by four to five degrees.
As per the forecast generated by Skymet, a fresh Western Disturbance is likely to approach the Western Himalayas by today evening. As a result, there may be a marginal increase in minimums due to a change in wind direction from northwesterly to easterly by February 4.
However, soon enough, the northwesterly winds will once again replace easterlies. Therefore, we can say that the minimums will remain below normal for the next few days. Cold Wave conditions may continue over Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, the parts of Northern Plains.
Image Credits – The Tribune
Any information taken from here should be credited to Skymet Weather
