Winters tightened its grip across the northwestern plains during the last 48 hours, with minimum temperatures dipping further. The night temperatures were already settling in single digit for the last many days but it touched new levels on the eve of Christmas.
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In fact, mercury is settling below or around 5°C across Punjab, Haryana and few parts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Delhi too saw a drop in temperatures during the last 48 hours, but it hovered around 7°C.
According to Skymet Weather, this drop can be attributed to the passage of feeble Western Disturbance across Jammu and Kashmir, giving snowfall over the higher reaches of the state. As the system moved away, chilly northwesterly winds blowing straight from these snow clad Himalayas led to drop in mercury.
Let us have a look at the minimum temperatures recorded across the region during the last 48 hours:
| Places | States | Minimum Temperature on December 25 | Minimum Temperature on December 26 |
| Churu | Rajasthan | 5.0 | 4.7 |
| Sikar | Rajasthan | 5.0 | 4.5 |
| Alwar | Rajasthan | 6.2 | 5.0 |
Although this system was a feeble one and did not have any impact on the weather over the plains but it was capable enough of changing the wind pattern, indirectly affecting the temperature profile.
So far in the winter season, we have witnessed only one active Western Disturbance over Jammu and Kashmir that had given widespread snow in hilly states of North India and rain in northwestern plains. Last 10 days have been dry in absence of any significant weather system.
Further, we can expect these temperatures to start increasing marginally during the next 24 hours in wake of an approaching Western Disturbance. This would once again change the wind pattern, which would arrest the drop in mercury.
Weather forecasters are predicting that this system would again be a feeble one, thus, we do not expect clouding over the northwestern plains. With this, the drop will only be of 1-2 degrees, not bringing much respite from the chilly nights.
IMAGE CREDIT:ndtv.com
Any information taken from here should be credited to skymetweather.com
