The Capital experienced a chilly morning on Tuesday with the mercury plummeting to the season’s lowest of 6.4 degrees Celsius mainly owing to snowfall in the upper reaches of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir as well as absence of western disturbance.
According to the weatherman, the minimum temperature recorded on Tuesday was two degrees below normal for this time of the year. The maximum temperature at 21.1 degrees Celsius was also two degrees below normal.
A thin layer of fog engulfed the city’s skyline in the morning reducing the visibility to 1,000 metres. However, flight movement at Delhi airport was not affected, authorities said.Explaining the trend of dropping minimum temperatures, a Meteorological Department official said: “Temperatures in the Capital have been dropping for the past week or so. This can be attributed to the fact that there has been no western disturbance development in North-West India ensuring clear skies, no clouds or rain and uninterrupted winds blowing towards the Capital from the Himalayan region where temperatures are sub-zero owing to snowfall. All these weather conditions were conducive for a fall in night temperature in Delhi.”
“This pattern is likely to continue in the city for the next four to five days as we are not expecting any western disturbance till then. Minimum temperatures are expected to dip further up to 4 degrees Celsius in the next couple of days with clear skies, no rainfall and no dense fog forecast,” he added.
Homemaker Kamal Motwani said: “I got up at around 8.a.m. and ventured out to buy some vegetables. On stepping out I was hit by such icy winds that I decided to head back home and go later.”
“I think it was a deceptively cold day. I decided to wear an extra layer of clothing in the morning but by afternoon it became quite sunny and I had to shed off my extra layer of clothing,” she added.
The weatherman has forecast mist in the morning with the maximum and minimum temperatures likely to hover around 21 degrees and 6 degrees Celsius respectively on Wednesday.
