As the chilly winters creep in, both the hills and plains of North India begin to shiver with very low minimums. Moreover, snowfall in the hills and the icy cold winds blowing over the plains cause the temperatures to drop to quite an extent. Blanket of snow covers the popular locales in the hills making tourists visit these regions.
However, this time snowfall activity has been on the lower side and the mid reaches have not seen any snow since December 12. So much so that the city of Shimla is currently warmer than Delhi if the minimum temperatures are considered.
Since January 9, there have just been only two occasions when the temperatures of Shimla went below the 5-degree mark. The city recorded 2.8 degrees Celsius on January 13 and 4.2 degrees Celsius on January 17.
During all the other days, the minimum settled above the 5-degree mark. During the last two days, the night temperature of Shimla has been surpassing Delhi. If figures are to be seen, on January 21, Delhi recorded 5 degrees while Shimla was at 7.6 degrees Celsius. Today, Delhi saw the minimum 5.9 degrees and Shimla settled at 6 degrees.
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The North Indian region barring the extreme higher reaches of the hills, has not seen any rains during the month of January. Moreover, the month of December also remained almost dry and the only time the region recorded good rain and snow was around December 12.
The reason for such elevated temperatures in Shimla can be attributed to the increased frequency of Western Disturbances. These Western Disturbances were feeble in nature and were not capable of giving any weather activity over Shimla region.
Meanwhile, these Western Disturbances induced clouding and altered the wind pattern over the region due to which Shimla continued to witness above normal minimums. However, the Northern Plains including Delhi were affected by icy cold winds from the Himalayan region which resulted in fall in temperatures. Sky also remained clear which further resulted in an increase in temperatures.
These higher temperatures and dry weather will also have damaging effect for Apple crops in Himachal Pradesh including Shimla.
Now, as per weathermen at Skymet Weather, an active Western Disturbance is expected to affect the Western Himalayas tomorrow. The system will induce an easterly trough. Thus, rains are expected over Delhi and Shimla. Meanwhile, snow activity over the capital city of Himachal Pradesh is not likely.
Image Credit: ste.india.com
Please Note: Any information picked from here must be attributed to skymetweather.com