Skymet weather

December11 was the coldest in the last six years

A preposterous drop of 9 degrees in the maximum temperatures yesterday, amazed many. Delhi’s maximum temperature was recorded at 18.7⁰C, an unbelievable fall from 27.7⁰C recorded on 10th of December. This has given Dec 11 a crucial position in the historical records for being the coldest maximum temperature in north India, from November till the 11th of December. Every year weather forecasters stay on their toes as new records are set in the winter season but this one will be remembered for a long time to come. Such weather conditions are not just rare but typically unusual and they point at the changing climatic conditions across the globe.

Weather system called the ‘Western Disturbance’ causes major changes in the months of winter as they persist in the lower latitudes as compared to the summers when they affect the subcontinent lesser. They are not just responsible for causing snow in the hills of Jammu and Kashmir but bring rain and slash both the day and night temperatures of north, northwest India. Weather forecasters say maximum temperature would not have dropped this much had the rain started in the afternoon. Since it started raining early morning and continued till evening, an immense drop in the temperature was recorded. Records in the last six years show the last time this low a temperature was recorded in the year 2010. This was 15⁰C on Dec 28. The reason for such a drop back then, can directly be linked to the dense foggy and cold day conditions that are typical in the last week of December.

While heavy snowfall in the Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal and Uttrakhand will continue for the next three days, there are chances of light rain again tomorrow in the Capital and adjoining Punjab, Haryana, west U.P and north Rajasthan. This could therefore drop the day temperatures once again by 2 to 3⁰C in the entire northern plains making it colder at least for the next two days. Temperatures could be freezing from the Dec 17 onwards when the icy northerly winds will start to blow directly from the north.

Photograph by Ilya Khamushkin.

Hair colour protection during winters

As winters set in, hair colour tends to take a beating. We’re listing down a few tips to help you take care of your coloured hair:

  • Take care of the ends - the healthier hair will contain the colour for more time, so take a trip to the salon every six weeks for a regular trim.

  • Use a conditioning treatment - coloured hair tends to be drier than usual, use a deep conditioning treatment as part of your hair care routine at least once a week. Apply to hair that has been dampened with warm water, and wrap in a towel for half an hour to give it time to be absorbed. Then Shampoo to wash the excess.

  • Limit the changes - changing the hair colour too often requires more chemicals to achieve the desired effect each time, and more chemicals means more damage to your hair. So, try to live with one look for a bit longer.

  • Rinse well - salt and chlorine can dry and damage hair, so don't forget to rinse off or shampoo after swimming, if you are at the seaside or the pool.

  • Go easy with the dryer - using dryers, curling tongs, straightener, etc. makes hair more porous and porous hair doesn't hold the colour so well. So, let it dry naturally when you can.

  • Get the right shampoo - finally, choose a shampoo designed for coloured hair and for your scalp type. A gentle shampoo will allow you to wash your hair every day.

Indian Railways cancels 28 trains from January 1

New Delhi, Indian Railways has decided to cancel 28 trains from January 1 in anticipation of foggy weather conditions. The trains, which will remain fully cancelled are:

  • 12873/12874 Hatia-Anand Vihar Terminus Jharkhand Swarnjayanti Express

  • 13039/13040 Howrah-Delhi Janata Express

  • 14005/14006 Sitamarhi-Anand Vihar Terminus Lichhvi Express

  • 14309/14310 Ujjain-Dehradun Ujjaini Express

  • 14043/14044 Kotdwar-Delhi Garhwal Express

  • 19781/19782 Jaipur-Amritsar Express

  • 14211/14212 Agra Cantt-New Delhi Intercity and

  • 14681/14682 New Delhi-Jalandhar Intercity.

 The trains that will remain partially canceled during the period are:

  • 13111/13112 Kolkata-Delhi Lal Quila Express between Mughalsarai and Delhi

  • 13007/13008 Howrah-Sriganganagar Udyan Toofan Abha Express will remain canceled between Sriganganagar-Mughalsarai.

In case there is no fog, Railways will start the booking with a three-day notice with a caution notification of any likely cancellation due to foggy conditions. These cancellations or partial cancellations would remain intact for the next 48 days starting from January 1 and again become operational after 18 February.


Snowfall to continue over J &K, H.P; more rain in Delhi & NCR likely

New Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh are expected to receive more snowfall and rain after the next 24 hours. Light rain would also occur in the National Capital Region Delhi along with Punjab, Haryana and west Uttar Pradesh during this period. With less sunshine, day temperatures may drop over these regions during the next 48 hours.

The Western Disturbance has moved away northeastwards. Another Western Disturbance over Pakistan and neighboring areas has moved to north Pakistan from Afghanistan during the last 24 hours and is expected to arrive by December 12 over Jammu & Kashmir.

So, northwest India may witness a brief pause in snowfall or rainfall activities during the next 24 hours but the expected movement of the Western Disturbance from Pakistan to Jammu & Kashmir during this period will again boost snowfall and rain in the region.

Snowfall activities in Jammu & Kashmir could continue for the next couple of days starting from December 13. One or two places in the state could even experience heavy snowfall of up to 300 mm during this period. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand would also be receiving snowfall at one or two places and rain at a few places after December 12.

After a brief break on December 11, rain would also continue over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and west Uttar Pradesh as the Western Disturbance affect would impact northwest plains. Shallow fog would again be witnessed during the morning hours in these areas during the next 48 to 72 hours.

The sky would remain cloudy to party cloudy to bring down the day temperatures further. The minimum temperature would rise due to a restriction on the cool and dry northwesterly winds over northwest India.

The moist southeasterly to easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal continue to have a brisk confrontation with dry and cool northwesterly winds over eastern India, thus forming a cyclonic circulation. East Madhya Pradesh, south Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Gangetic West Bengal will receive rain at one or two places during the next 48 hours.

The cyclonic circulation close to Comorin and Maldives area would give rain at one or two places over southern parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Lakshadweep during the next 24 hours. The trough of low pressure area over south Andaman Sea would continue to give rain over the Andaman & Nicobar Islands during the next 48 hours.

Photograph by Tabish Mir

Top five winter reads

Good books are always a pleasure to read but some books have a tone or a setting that matches a season. Don’t you think?
These are books that complement the short, cold and dark days and the long and freezing winter nights. And the best time to read them is when you are all tucked into bed, or cuddled up in your blanket on the couch, sitting by the fireplace and sipping your steamy mug of cocoa!

Our collection of the top five winter reads will interest all those voracious readers out there:

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Ghost Light by Joseph O’ Connor – The book is about a critical wintry night in the life of an actress, fallen on hard times, interwoven with her love affair with John Millington Synge. It’s a painful, emotional, moving and a beautifully written drama.

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The Santaland diaries by Davis Sedaris – A perfect antidote to Christmas depression, containing six waspish, hilarious and seasonal short stories. Also includes the title piece, based on the author’s stint as a Christmas elf. Once you read this, you will never look at the nativity play in the same way again

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Killing Dragons, Conquest of the Alps- The history of the conquest of the Alpine peaks, essentially an account of how the British invented mountaineering, is a perfect for armchair explorers. A thrilling thriller with ample quantities of snow, vertigo and British pluck – with zero chances of frostbite

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Storm Prey by John Sandford- John Sandford is the pen name of the hugely prolific Pulitzer Prize winning writer John Roswell Camp. We won’t reveal the story here for you. All we’d say is no matter what moniker he goes under, the man is a master of thrillers since his plotting is sharp, his villains are extraordinarily layered and the good guys are always evolving.

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Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts by lucy Dillon- Sometimes on a cold winter night you just need something fluffy and heartwarming. This book, winner of the 2010 Romantic Novel of the Year, could be the right thing for the romantic hearts. Simple and sweet, the girl gets her boy and the dog gets a home.

 

"I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter."

— T.S. Eliot

Himalayas prone to major earthquakes

New Delhi, Scientists have warned that geological features and activities in Himalayas could cause major earthquakes in the region that separates Indian subcontinent from Tibetan Plateau. Geophysicists from the Stanford University observed that the Himalayan range was formed, and remains currently active, due to the collision of the Indian and Asian continental plates.

Scientists recently began studying the complexity of this volatile collision zone in greater detail, particularly the fault that separates the two plates, the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT). Scientists have known for some time that India is subducting under Asia.

Previous observations had indicated a relatively uniform fault plane that dipped a few degrees to the north. Warren Caldwell, a geophysics doctoral researcher at Stanford, has analyzed seismic data from 20 seismometers deployed for two years across the Himalayas by the National Geophysical Research Institute of India to produce a clearer picture of the fault.

The data imaged a thrust dipping a gentle two to four degrees northward, as has been previously inferred, but also revealed a segment of the thrust that dips more steeply (15 degrees downward) for 20 kilometres.

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake centered near Sikkim, India, along Nepal's eastern border that reportedly killed 53 and destroyed more than 100,000 homes in September 2011, highlights the significant quake hazard the region faces as enormous patches of Earth's crust collide and dive under one another.

Delhi Weather update for the week

New Delhi, As a series of Western Disturbances is approaching the northwest region of the country, the national capital New Delhi will also fall into the fold as rains or thundery activities are expected in Delhi from December 11 onwards. Hence, Delhi will have a partly cloudy sky with chances of rain during the next 24 to 48 hours.

As there will be a short break between the two Western Disturbances on December 13, the minimum temperature will fall and the maximum would rise a bit during those 24 hours on December 13. But again when another Western Disturbance would arrive by December 14, the minimum would rise and the maximum will fall considerably for another two days over Delhi.

Moisture from the weather system while mixing up with the easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal could also create shallow fog during the morning hours during this week.

The Western Disturbance is a weather system that consists of moist and warm winds from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. These winds move in a northeastwards direction usually and affect the weather in northern India during winter months.

Night temperatures likely to rise in north; rain likely in east, northeast

New Delhi, Night temperatures or the minimum temperatures are expected to rise in northwest India during the next 24 to 48 hours. Snowfall is expected in the northwest hills during this period. Rain is also expected in east Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal during the next 24 to 48 hours.

The minimum temperatures are likely to rise by 2 to 3°C in northwest India as a Western Disturbance is expected to make its presence felt by cutting off the northwesterly dry and cool winds. It would also bring clouds in the region, which will lead to a drop in daytime temperatures as sunshine may reduce during the next 24 to 48 hours.

The Western Disturbance is currently placed over Pakistan and will arrive tomorrow over Jammu & Kashmir. This would bring snowfall and rain in the northwest hills and the plains. Heavy snowfall or rain could occur at one or two places over Jammu & Kashmir. Snowfall activities would increase over this region after 24 hours. Snowfall or rain is also likely at one or two places over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand during the next 24 to 48 hours.

The plains in the region over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and west Uttar Pradesh could also experience thunder activities along with light rain at a few places during the next 48 hours. Moisture in the winds could also create shallow fog during the morning hours over these places.

The weather system(WD) would also push some energy towards Indo-Gangetic plains to raise the minimum temperatures. The region is witnessing below normal minimum temperatures for the last fortnight. However, the prevailing northerly cool and dry winds over eastern parts of the country over east Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand Orissa and West Bengal would mix with the easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal. This mix up would lead to rain in this region during the next 48 hours.

The effect of Western Disturbance over northwestern parts of the country would continue as this weather system is being followed up by two other Western Disturbances slated to affect the region till December 16.

A trough of low pressure area extends from southeast Arabian Sea to east-central Arabian Sea. Under its influence, rain would occur at a few places over Lakshadweep islands and at one or two places over southern parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala during the next 24 hours.

Some useful tips for ‘Winter Yoga’

When the cold, brisk air is blowing outside and you crave to for some exercise but are too lazy to hit the gym, switch to some winter yoga. The best part is that you won’t have to be loaded with layers of sweaters to step outside. Just do some simple yoga exercises in the comfort of your home. Doing this becomes all the more important because these months of hibernation, will just make you sit lazy on the couch all day long and the cups of hot chocolate will add on extra kilos to your body. According to Ayurveda, winter is governed by ‘kapha-dosha’, whose properties are coolness/dampness, heaviness and sluggishness. Having a kapha condition implies, you are easily prone to colds, headaches, weight gain and have a zero tolerance to the cold.

While ‘winter yoga’ will keep you warm there are certain helpful tips you mustn’t forget too. Here are simple things you should keep in mind before the thaw.

  • It’s true that yoga gives you energy and increases your body heat but do not end up for your yoga classes or sit on your lawn in early morning without wearing any layers. A warm body is always less prone to injury.
  • If you live in very cold climates, give yourself 15-20 in a warm room before starting any exercise. This will help your muscles warm up. We suggest you do some ‘Surya Namaskar’ or Sun Salutations to warm up faster.
  • If you have a cold, stay home! You might think a hot sweaty session is just the right thing to get rid of your cold and unclog your stuffy nose but it will only bother others and your practice too. Do some simple breathing exercises at home and inhale some steam to first kick away that stubborn cold and then stretch your limbs.
  • Make sure to bring a change of warm, dry clothes. You don’t want to step out in the cold air wearing your damp yoga clothes. This could challenge your immune system and make you terribly sick.

 

Also remember that while doing your winter yoga exercises, apart from performing the universal (any time or season) Kapalbhati kriya, Agnisaar kriya and Ling Mudra, Nabhyasana, Naukasana should be avoided by people who suffer from heart diseases/blood pressure and back pain respectively. Especially doing the latter in the cold can be troublesome for such people.

The most important tip becomes your diet. Your diet too should change according to the colder months. This means including bitter vegetables like spinach, broccoli, beets and cabbage to your meals. Substituting red meat with white meat and reducing sugar and having raw honey instead.

Who says yoga is simply a workout, it’s about working on YOURSELF!

The ‘cold season’ not so cold yet; Biting cold in Delhi to begin not before Dec15th

We asked our readers, have you felt the chill yet? The answer we got was both a yes and a no. Well we blame the changing weather systems when we hear this.

Night temperatures in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab have risen by 2 to 3⁰C. Afternoons are balmy and bright. There is no fog and there won’t be any, till the end of next week. The early morning mist is not consistent and winds are strong at 18-19kmph. All this is due to the Western Disturbance prevailing in the higher ridges of Jammu and Kashmir. Four to five Western Disturbances crossing the hills of J&K is perfectly normal in the winter season but this time the problem lays in the increased frequency of these passing systems, more so, one right after the other. This doesn’t allow cold temperatures to prevail for longer periods; in fact it keeps the minimums higher than normal. Therefore the only time you end up feeling cold is early in the morning or late at night. Winds directly from the hills also help in cooling but they too are not icy or freezing yet.

Our weather forecasters say this will continue till mid-December and the biting cold and misty mornings will begin only after 15th of Dec, when another Western Disturbance would give heavy snow in J&K and areas of Punjab. Winter crazy Delhiites, waiting eagerly for the freezing temperatures will thus have to wait some more to load up those heavy woolens, caps and gloves.

Lower tea output this year

New Delhi, Adverse weather conditions in key tea producing areas of the country could lead to downfall in tea production. Both northeastern and southern areas have faced unfavourable weather, which will reduce the production compared to last year.

In Assam, tea production is much lower compared to last year as production in Terai and Dooars also remains lower. The rain was excessive in some months, including October while some months saw less rain. Production in the state, which is the largest tea producing state in the country, is likely to be 10 percent lower this year compared to last year's output. In southern India too production is down by 5-6 million kgs due to unfavourable weather conditions.

After missing the one billion kg mark by a whisker, the industry was hoping to meet the record figure in the 2012 calendar year but that is unlikely now. According to industry sources, production is likely to hover around 970 to 975 million kgs in 2012 as the output in both northern and southern India is down compared to 2011. It is also believed that production of the world-famous Darjeeling tea could see a slight dip this time around compared to last year.

Warmest 6 December in Shimla in 4 yrs

New Delhi, December 6, 2012 was the warmest day in Shimla in the last four years. The maximum temperature was 20 degree Celsius on Thursday, which is up by 5 degree Celsius compared to last year when maximum was recorded at 15 °C on the same date. Night was also warmer than the previous year as the minimum was above 2°C than the last year. The maximum yesterday was recorded at 9°C while it was 7°C last year on the same day.

Yesterday's Temperatures were not only high compared to just last year. The day temperature was up by 5.5°C compared to 2009, 3°C compared to 2010. Yesterdays minimum temperature was above by 4.5°C compared to 2009 and 3°C above 2010 on the same day.

The temperatures could again rise marginally during the stay of the feeble Western Disturbance over Jammu & Kashmir in the next 24 hours. A fresh Western Disturbance is also expected from December 11 that would not let temperatures to drop.







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