Ahmedabad, the largest city of Gujarat has recorded minimum temperature of 9.2°C, about 4°C below the normal. The city has recorded single digit minimum temperature for the 2ndconsecutive day to register cold wave conditions, not very common for this part of the country. The twin city of Gandhinagar, has further dropped to 6.5°C for the 2nd day today. The capital city and the Sabarmati town has plunged to single digit minimum for the last 4 days in a row.
Around winter solstice, the city has earlier records also, going below the monthly normal of 13.4°C. In the last decade, Ahmedabad recorded the lowest of 7.4°C on 15thDec2014. It also has the precedence of going single digit during 2nd half of December, albeit fleetingly. Cold air of northern plains intruding in to the alluvial land of the state plummets the mercury levels for short durations and recover quickly, back to the pleasant weather conditions.
Entire northern plains have been swept by piercing cold for the last few days and the sting has travelled to the northern and central parts of the state. Now, 2 back to back western disturbances are arriving over north India, commencing 23rdDec and lasting till 28thDec. The seasonal anticyclone over Rajasthan, fanning cold air over the state of Gujarat, is getting displaced. Winds are going to reverse and become relatively warmer for the next few days.
Cold wave conditions will abate from the capital city Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad anytime soon. Gradual rise of mercury, reaching 13-15°C by the weekend will ease out the prolonged cold conditions spanning across the 2 sister locations. Pleasantly warm Christmas followed by a cool new year eve, looks on the cards for the vibrant towns of Gujarat.