New Delhi, A weak northeast monsoon in south Peninsula this year, frail easterly winds and an unhindered flow of the dry and cool northerly winds from the north India has led to an appreciable drop in the minimum temperatures, particularly over Karnataka.
With no or less rain, skies get clearer and radiation increases, thus this pattern of a fall in the night temperatures is seen. However, such a dip in the mercury levels is not particularly new for the people of Karnataka as they felt a similar cold wave last year too.
But the effect of the cold northerly winds has been felt way earlier compared to December last year. This year, the night temperatures fell by 4 to 5 degrees and Bangalore reached a minimum of 13⁰C, which is quite lower than the minimums experienced last year (15⁰C) during November.
What’s even more appalling is that the minimum in Chamarajanagar and Mysore has slipped to a low of 9⁰ and 11⁰C respectively, which is even lower than the minimum temperature in Delhi so far in this season. Such cold wave conditions will continue for the next two to three days in the region and there is no rain predicted for almost a week now.
This is a sweet treat for the locals who have welcomed this cold change in their lives in contrast to the usual wet humid days and have happily taken out their winter wear. This cold wave and no rain situation is not worrying for the farmers too who have already got enough, well distributed rain, from the northeast monsoon in the first few days of November for sowing their oilseed and pulse crops. Night temperatures have fallen by five degrees in parts of Tamil Nadu as well due to the penetration of these chilly northerly winds.
This frequent change in the weather every year, be it a storm or a cold wave, points out to the alarming issue of climate change. We can deal with this issue only by educating ourselves about climate change and following the weather in our region regularly.
