Week-long cold wave conditions over most parts and severe cold wave in few pockets are likely over North India. Punjab, Haryana, West Uttar Pradesh, North Rajasthan and Delhi will reel under cold wave condition between 10th January and 16th January. The agonizing cold spell will be accompanied with dense fog reducing visibility to less than 100 meters disrupting rail, road and air traffic.
Entire hilly states are covered with snow as much as 5-8 feet including the popular tourist resorts. The 5 days spell during the first week of January has dumped heaviest snow of the season resulting closure of highways and arterial roads during this period. Now the week-long break is expected and icy winds from the snow-clad mountains are going to ravage the northern plains across the board. This possibly could be the harshest spell of this winter season before the sun starts its northward journey on Makar Sankranti (14th January).
Thick fog enduring for long hours coupled with windy conditions may drop the day temperatures also below the normal. The minimum temperature as such will gradually decrease to reach around 2-3°C at quite a few places. The most vulnerable towns are Amritsar, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Firozpur, Bathinda, Karnal, Hisar, Narnaul, Churu, Sikar, Pilani, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Moradabad, and Delhi. Ground inversion layer will intensify and thicken frost formation during these days.
Snow clearance operation is underway over the airfields and highways to restore normal connectivity. Heavy machinery is being used to expedite clearance and normalize to and fro traffic. Weather is not likely to play spoilsport in these operations from 09th January onward.