New Delhi, Winter games have become more popular in India. Tourists from across the nation and from foreign countries travel to some parts of India to indulge in winter adventure sports.

Here we've selected the top five places in India for winter adventure sports.

Shimla: The capital of Himachal Pradesh along with Kufri, Shilon Bagh and Chail receives snowfall after the third week of December

Manali: A favourite among tourists looking to play along the fresh snow in the Solang Valley

Gulmarg: A better accessible venue, it ranks as India’s most visited ski resort. The snow here is considered one of the finest and skiing is quite the experience here.

Patnitop: Considered a stopover while heading to Jammu, it attracts several tourists looking for a winter thrill.

Kanatal: This all-season destination is 30 kms from Mussoorie, and offers some of the best views in the region.

We're hoping that you plan early on to catch the best of winter this year around.

New Delhi, The comfortable and dry daytime weather makes December a great time to visit north India. The day temperatures remain in the range of 20-21 degree Celsius over New Delhi. Day temperatures in Jaipur, the other major tourist draw in the region, remain in the same range.

The nights are however much colder as the mercury level hovers around 4-8 degrees Celsius. The night can also be greatly enjoyed by arranging a bonfire or spending it in warmth of a pub.

The cities of Delhi and Jaipur have also plenty of options for the sporting types, with polo, golf, croquet and other games being played here in winter.

A wintry day in the lush green parks of the region is a day well spent, notwithstanding a plethora of forts, palaces, museums, zoos and art galleries to visit.

Though one should ensure that the fog lights are working if driving to either of the two.  cities in winter as the region is prone to severe fogs in the season.

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.

New Delhi, So much for the high level meeting of the officials from Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana on Saturday to combat the troublesome smog situation in the capital and the adjoining areas for almost a week. The pollution levels had increased as high as seven times the permissible levels.

It was thus anticipated that the smog levels would increase further after the Diwali celebrations and would bother residents with low visibility and other smog related health irritants. But to everyone’s surprise, the increased wind speed early this morning, completely nullified the pollution levels.

People woke up to a light sunny and a pleasant morning, devoid of any smog. The winds that were calm till 5 am on November 14 picked up speed, reaching 10 kmph and swept away the thick moisture layer encircling entire northwest India. Cyclone Nilam that was responsible for the incursion of these moisture burdened winds to the north, lead to very high levels of smog. The visibility which was low till yesterday at 600 meters, increased to a good of 1.2 km this morning.

The Chief Minister of Delhi says she has already levied a few measures to control the smog levels from rising by charging a fine of Rs 2000 from vehicle owners who do not have pollution under control (PUC) certificate and restricting the entry of too many vehicles from the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana borders. The government has also assured to introduce short and long term measures in the near future to improve the air quality for people.

Coming weeks could be a little tough though, as an approaching Western Disturbance (November 17 onwards) could decrease the wind speeds and increase the chances of fog over the entire northwest. Occurrence of smog is also likely.

While goddess Laxmi did not shower as much wealth this Diwali and the price of rupee fell a few points, the weather gods have definitely shown some mercy! Delhiites have a smog free air to breathe, at least for a few days.

New Delhi, The August 2010 flash flood in Leh that killed 193 persons along with severe damage that rendered hundreds missing and thousands homeless was caused by heavy rains for three consecutive days. The unusual rainfall is attributed to an easterly wind that transported clouds formed high over the Tibetan Plateau to Leh. These clouds also gathered moisture from the Arabian Sea, fed by the southwesterly winds and from the Bay of Bengal through southeasterly winds.

Usually, such a large storm system does not develop as cloud formation ceases during the night. But in this case, cloud formation was fueled by incoming moisture laden winds from three directions (easterly, southeasterly and southwesterly) throughout the night. Average total rainfall over Leh in August is about half-inch. But more than 8 inches of rain was recorded during this 24 hour period.

This event is reminiscent of flooding in the Big Thompson Canyon in Colorado in 1976 and the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1972. In all these cases, large organized clouds gathered high in the mountains and drew moisture up the slope of the mountain into the storms. The resulting heavy rains are uncommon in mountains, where there typically isn't enough moisture to cause such drastic rain. They are also more dangerous than storms in the plains.

New Delhi, The festival of lights, togetherness and happiness will become extremely pleasant and even more joyful this year for the people of Delhi&NCR due to a steep fall in temperatures. The day will be bright and sunny with clear skies at 29 ⁰C, while the night will be cold at 13⁰C. This is way lower than what it was last year in 2011. Last year’s temperature was warmer at 31⁰ maximum and 17.5 ⁰C  minimum. Besides, Diwali falling in the month of November this time as compared to October in 2011 cannot be mistaken for it being colder because the temperature on 13^th of November in 2011 was also warmer at 30 and 15⁰C, maximum and minimum, respectively. Weather during a passing western disturbance becomes hotter which is the not the case this year. A significant WD has just crossed the Himalayan Subcontinent thus dropping the temperature.

But like every year Diwali is quite a troublesome time for people suffering from allergic reactions like asthma, etc. And the situation is no different this time either. The emphasis on a ‘Green Diwali’ too, will bring little or no relief from the high levels of smog on the D-day. Furthermore, the early morning fog, low wind speed, high moisture content combined with the smoke from the crackers will be irritable to eyes. Life is a festival only to the wise, and we say, only to the weather wise! So stay updated with the weather on festive days in your city and be safe.

New Delhi, Just 180 km away from the Bay of Bengal, Kolkata is vulnerable to storms hitting the coast and a rise in the sea level. Kolkata has been enlisted as 20 endangered world cities due to the effect of climate change.

An old age drainage system, which just covers 50 percent of the historical city could amplify the sudden rain flooding and a sea level rise as a long term affect. Kolkata is situated near Sunderbans, the world's largest delta, and it has the third-biggest gross domestic product among Indian cities. The city is susceptible to flooding every year during the June-September rainy season. The 140-year-old drainage system in the former capital of British India is amongst the oldest in the country and was built enough to only cover half the city, as of now.

A business news website points out that civic infrastructure in the city is not geared enough to counter a devastating natural calamity. There, a natural calamity might be a storm like Aila, which had a major impact on Kolkata in 2007. Four other storms were also experienced in Kolkata during the year and researchers believe that there is nothing to suggest that such storms would not take place again.

Aila had hit Kolkata at a moderate 80 kmph but led to widespread blackouts for four days, uprooted 5,000-plus trees and killed 21 people. A similar storm could hit vital installations like power and water supply stations and areas close to the Ganga could be the worst affected.

Delhi, An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale struck northern Myanmar today at 7:42 am. The epicenter of the quake was the town of Shwebo, about 117 km south of Myanmar second-largest city Mandalay. The quake has a depth of 10 kilometres. 5 persons have been reported to be killed in the earthquake, which also damaged an under construction bridge across River Irrawaddy in the town of Shwebo.

New Delhi, The recent rain due to Cyclone Nilam has not only devastated standing crops but also proved detrimental for the historical monuments in the south. According to a senior Archeological Survey of India official, about 15 structures are in a precarious condition and their partial collapse in heavy rain cannot be ruled out.

Salu Mantap in the 15^th century capital of the erstwhile Vijayanagar empire crumbled into a heap of ruins by the recent Cyclone Nilam. Rainfall in the past few years has damaged many monuments whose enclosure walls have developed cracks. Besides threatening the structures, the cracks are also posing threat to tourists visiting the heritage sites.

A portion of the western wall of Sri Achyutharaya temple complex, the enclosure wall of Lotus Mahal, the Doomed Gate wall and fencing wall of Gejjela Manatap on the banks of river Tunghabhadra had collapsed during the incessant rainfall in October 2009. During the subsequent year, portions of the Kudre Mantapa, the domed gate, the Janana enclosure wall and the ‘pushkarni' on Bazaar Street near Vittala temple collapsed.

In the last year’s rainfall, a portion of the protected Shiva temple at Hampi, popularly known as Varaha temple, collapsed. Some portions of the Ananthashayana, Pattabhirama, Vittala, Krishna and Virupaksha temples are said to be weak and rainfall in the area has further weakened the structures.