While north India shivers, down south Bangaloreans have been grumbling about how warm the tail end of the winter has been.
They’re right, of course. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) confirmed the northward slide of the mercury in recent days.
An IMD official told The Hindu : “There is a pressure area in the southwest Bay of Bengal, near the south Tamil Nadu coast and the adjoining Sri Lanka coast, which is moving towards the west. The warmer winter is because of the unusual system.”
This means that the wind movement from the northeast is over the ocean area carrying moist air, which is why there is no fall in temperature. Once the wind over Sri Lanka moves towards the Arabian Gulf, which is expected to happen in a week or so, the temperature may drop a bit.
Gradual rise
The rise in day temperature is happening in a phased manner, the official added, saying that it has been increasing gradually by about one or two degrees and not “appreciably” (more than 50 per cent).
“January 14 onwards, the temperature will rise further as the sun will face towards the north,” the official added.
The department’s readings for Tuesday said it was dry over the State, with the minimum temperature rising at a few places over north interior Karnataka.
They were above normal at many places, being appreciably so at a few places over south interior Karnataka and above normal at a few places over coastal and north interior Karnataka. Belgaum recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 11.5 degrees Celsius.
The temperature in and around Bangalore for the past day or so has been hovering around 30.6 degrees Celsius (maximum) and a minimum temperature of 17 degrees Celsius. On Wednesday and Thursday, the IMD forecasts the maximum temperature will rise to 31 and 32 degrees Celsius respectively.
Almost same as last year
But officials said there was no major departure in temperatures from last year. In the first week of January 2012, the average maximum was 30 degrees Celsius and the minimum was 17 degrees. This year, only the maximum has gone up by a degree, while the minimum has remained the same.
Forecast
As per the forecast till January 10, mainly dry weather will prevail over north interior Karnataka, while light rain may occur at isolated places over coastal and south interior Karnataka, including Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Mysore and Chamarajanagar districts.
In Bangalore and surrounding areas, the IMD has predicted partly cloudy sky with fog/mist in some areas during the morning hours. The minimum temperature will be around 16 degrees Celsius.
