If you belong to the eastern part of India, then the freezing temperatures these days must be making you highly uncomfortable and uneasy in the morning as Uttar Pradesh has set some astonishing temperature records in the New Year. The climate of India in the winter months in Uttar Pradesh does witness severe cold but this time the mercury dipped to a whopping 0.6⁰C at Hindon, on Friday, January 4th 2013 while the maximum temperature on Monday, January 7th dropped to 6.8⁰C (the lowest max temp in entire India). It was due to this that schools remain shut, office goers pulled out more sweaters and jackets, and workers too stopped to set up bon-fires to get some relief from the biting cold.
Piercing temperature that freeze you are typical characteristics of the climate of India during the months the December and January. Increased frequency of the ‘Western Disturbance’ accompanied by dense fog, rain and wind speed during these months often plummet the temperatures to new lows. Though head forecaster, Mahesh Palawat at Skymet says “the last month of the year 2012 though saw a warmer trend as the climate of India has changed in recent years, but weather in January 2013 has made up for it”.
Climate of India has often been in the news and a topic of discussion for all those researching on global warming and its effects, as new records are being set each day (late arrival of rain, stretched summer spell and delayed and warm winters), but the weather in 2013 in India has been particularly different because it was not just Uttar Pradesh, but also Delhi that recorded 1.9⁰C on January 6th, its lowest so far. Today, Churu in Rajasthan also recorded its lowest so far at 2.7⁰C. Hisar in Haryana on the other hand recorded -1.1⁰C on January 6th. As cold day conditions prevail, maximum temperatures have witnessed a fall of 6 to 9⁰C and 5 to 7⁰C lower than the normal in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi respectively. The normal maximum temperature of both the above states hovers around 21⁰C in the month of January.
But the weather gods haven’t just stopped at that, they have decided to pour in some dense fog too, in UP, Delhi, Haryana and Bihar to disrupt the daily life of people. And it is this severe cold that has already claimed more than 100 lives in Uttar Pradesh itself.
Weather forecast at Skymet predicts a similar pattern in the climate of India till mid-January, thereafter the weather in Uttar Pradesh and adjoining areas will become tolerable.
Photo by Ashok666.
