After the withdrawal of Southwest Monsoon, rains become far and few for North India. In fact, November is the least rainy month for the region. Delhi is no different and witnesses mainly dry weather during this period.
This period can also be considered to be the changeover period for North India, wherein winter season start making onset. With this, winter rains also make an appearance and go on till February.
In November, the average rainfall for Delhi stands at 4.9 mm. This figure increases gradually to 9.4 mm in December and then 19.4 mm in January. February is the rainiest month of the winter season, with the average mean of 22.1 mm.
However, this year seems to be a different story. We are reaching fag end of the first half of January and winters rains are still missing. In this season, there has been only one spell of rains that was recorded on December 11 and 12. Barring these two days, Delhi remained dry for entire December.
January too began on the similar note and has been absolutely dry till now. Moreover, we are not expecting rains during the next one week also. With this, Delhi is heading towards longest dry spell during the winter season.
According to Skymet Weather, this is an unusual and extended dry spell in Delhi. The absence of typical winter fog and elongated cold weather conditions are a result of this. Till now, we have witnessed only one episode of dense to very dense fog, which was on January 1.
On the other hand, night temperatures are settling on the lower side around 6 ˚C -7˚C. Though day temperatures have increased in last 2-3 days, prior to this, maximum temperatures were also settling between 17 ˚C and 19˚C.
One of the key reasons for the absence of winter rains can be attributed to the less number of Western Disturbances over Jammu and Kashmir. Winter season is mainly governed by the Western Disturbance. Although there have been series of Western Disturbances, but they were not active enough to impact the weather over plains of Northwest India including Delhi-NCR.
Moving further during the second half of January, weathermen are anticipating a rainy spell but that will also not be a major one. A fresh Western Disturbance is likely to affect Western Himalayas during that time. The approaching spell will have more impact on the weather over the hills of North India and plains are likely to settle with light rains only.
IMAGE CREDIT: Wikipedia
Any information taken from here should be credited to skymetweather.com
