Hard To Get Up From Bed For Delhites As Minimum Temperature Drops To 6.3 °C, Lowest Since 2003 In November

Highlights:

• India Meteorological Department declares cold wave in Delhi
• Delhi witnessed a minimum temperature at and or below 10 °C and 4.5 notches less than normal for second consecutive day
• On Sunday, Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 6.9 °C

On Monday, a cold wave gripped the people residing in the National Capital as the minimum temperature break record of 17 years when the mercury dropped to 6.3 °C, five notches below the normal. This is the lowest temperature reported for the month of November since 2003 as per the India Meteorological Department.

On Sunday, Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 6.9 °C while the maximum temperature stood at 24.2 °C, which was the lowest day time temperature in the month of November so far.

Head of IMD’s regional forecasting centre, Kuldeep Srivastava said, “The Safdarjung Observatory which provides representative data for the city, recorded a minimum of 6.3 degrees Celsius, which is Delhi’s lowest minimum temperature in the month since November 2003, when the city recorded a minimum of 6.1 degrees Celsius,”.

Srivastava said the mercury dropped to 6.3 °C at the Lpodhi Road weather station.

For the small areas such as Delhi, the IMD has declared a cold wave given the minimum temperature was at least 10 °C and at places was below that and was also 4.5 notches less that the normal for 2 straight days.

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Srivastava said, “However, for small areas such as Delhi, a cold wave can be declared if the criteria is fulfilled even for a day,”.

The lowest minimum temperature Delhi recorded in 2019 was 11.5 °C in the month of November, and in 2018 it was 10.5 °C while in 2017 the minimum temperature in November was recorded at 7.6 °C.

The all time record of the lowest minimum temperature recorded in the month of November in Delhi was 3.9 °C back on 28^th November 1938.

Srivastava says that the chilling winds which blow from the snow-laden western Himalayas are to be the major constituting reason for the huge drop in the mercury levels. Having said this, the minimum temperature will rise by 2 or 3 °C in the coming 4 to 5 days under the influence of a fresh Western Disturbance.

According to the officials from the India Meteorological Department, the minimum temperature in November, barring on 16^th, has remained 2-3 °C below the normal range in the absence of the cloud cover.

Clouds help increase the temperature as they trap some of the outgoing infrared radiation and radiate it back downward, warming the ground.

October broke even bigger record for Delhi as it was the coldest in 58 years. The mean minimum temperature recorded in October this year was 17.2 °C which was the lowest since 1962  when the minimum temperature was recorded at 16.9 °C.