The national capital has been reeling under cold day conditions, and barely managing to have the day temperature reaching the low teens. The airport observatory at Palam recorded a ‘cold day’ for the 3rd consecutive day on Sunday, 16thJan2022. The daily maximum temperature halted below 15°C for the 3rd consecutive day and recorded 14.6°C, 12.5°C and 14.4°C on 14th, 15th and 16thJan respectively. These temperatures are 6-7°C below the average and the minimum temperatures also remained in single digit. Earlier, the base station at Safdarjung also recorded the lowest maximum temperature of the last 2 years. On 15thJan 2022, the observatory measured 14.8°C to record consecutive cold days. Narela, the coldest part of the city shivered at 12.8°C, followed by Jafarpur at 13.5°C. Ayanagar recorded the lowest minimum temperature in the region clocking 5.6°C.
A cold day is announced when the minimum temperature is < 10°C and the maximum is at least 4.4°C below the normal. It gets upgraded to a severe cold day when the maximum temperature gets 6.5°C below the normal. The persistence of dense fog resulted in the 1st cold day of January on Friday. On the subsequent 2 days, Saturday and Sunday, there was no dense fog at surface level but the fog envelop was hanging in the lower layers, restricting sunshine. Sky obscured conditions resulted in cold day for the 3rd consecutive day at Palam.
Marginal improvement can be expected for the next 2 days. Early clearance of fog may raise the day temperature to about 16-17°C. Passage of western disturbance across the mountains between 17th and 20thJan will restrict any major improvement. Another active western disturbance with induced circulation over the plains will arrive on 21stJan. Spell of rain between 21st and 23rdJan will clamp down the weather conditions again. Therefore, cold day conditions are not yet over and done. These are likely to return, possibly after a brief respite.
