First time in this season, most parts of Gujarat have recorded season’s lowest temperature and slipped into cold wave conditions. The cold snap slinks into Kutch, North Gujarat and interiors of Saurashtra. The state capital Gandhinagar shivered at 7.5°C to be the coldest in Central Gujarat. Naliya in Kutch was the coldest place in the state measuring 3.2°C, colder than Delhi, Amritsar and Ambala in the freezing plains of North India.
The temperature drop is to the tune of 6-8°C in the last 48 hours. Cold wave conditions are sweeping North and Central Gujarat along with interiors of Saurashtra. The coastal stations like Dwarka, Okha, Jamnagar and Porbander also witnessed a sharp drop but continue to remain in double-digit. Southern locations along the coast like Surat, Valsad and Silvassa remained highest with a minimum temperature of about 15°C.
Following snowfall in the hills and rain in the plains of North India on 27th December, icy winds have started sweeping parts of Rajasthan extending to Kutch and North Gujarat. These cold conditions will prevail for the next three days (28-30 December) and start easing out thereafter to go into double-digit minimum outside Kutch. This change is consequent to the approach of another western disturbance along with induced cyclonic circulation. The reversal of winds largely coming in from the Arabian Sea will raise the humidity and temperature over the entire region.