Cold wave to continue till New Year, Delhi shivers as temperature falls below 8°

The national
capital woke up to grey skies and another chilly morning on Thursday. At 5.30
am, the minimum temperature was recorded as 7.6 degrees Celsius. A layer of fog
reduced the visibility to 300 metres.

According to
the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Delhi is going to experience cold
days or severe cold day conditions till December 27. A severe cold day is when
maximum temperature is 6.4 degrees C lower than normal.

“Cold wave
conditions are expected in Delhi on December 28-29. Delhi is likely to have
clear skies on these days when the radiation cooling phenomenon results in lowering
of night temperatures. Besides, the layer of fog has not allowed much sunlight
to reach earth’s surface to warm it,” the IMD scientist said.

This is
mainly because the wind direction will be northwesterly till then. On December
28 there can be a change in wind direction to easterly, temporarily, but night
temperatures will continue to fall, he added.

Meanwhile,
air quality in the national capital improved marginally. The air quality index
(AQI) at 7.30 am was 326, as against the overall AQI of 350, the previous day.

Weather
experts said air quality will improve slightly due to good wind speed on
December 26-27. However the slight relief will be short lived as air quality
may deteriorate from December 28-29 due to an increase in fog cover and reduced
wind speed.