The existing temperature profile in the northern plains including Delhi show that levels are near normal with cool nights hovering around 9 degrees. However, you might not have felt the chill of winter in North India yet. The absence of dense fog, clouds and winter rain gives the feeling that we are not in the thick of winter yet, however, that is slated to change.
We expect an active Western Disturbance (WD), within a week or so, tracking southward and affecting the plains of North India. This system will bring spells of rain and showers, setting the condition for the commencement of chilly winters. Thereafter, we expect frequent Western Disturbances to sustain the chill in entire North India. With this process, both air and rail operations will be affected as the plains get engulfed by dense fog and mist. Winter in Delhi will take full effect soon, thus flight and train schedules will be the worst affected here. We maintain that Delhi will be free of any dense fog and operations will be affected only after 17th or 18th of December. However, in the interim period smog is going to be a regular feature in the northern plains stretching from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to Bihar.
So far very few Western Disturbances have affected North India and the ones that have crossed India have been not been strong enough to leave any significant impact over the plains, including Delhi. Frequent formation of active cyclonic systems over the Bay of Bengal has weakened extra tropical activity this year. Frequent spells of WDs in the coming weeks are expected to induce snowfall over the higher reaches of northern India. This will bring ice cold winds down to the plains and thus, set off winter.
picture courtesy- dayandnightnews.com
