Cold wave, dense fog to continue to grip Northwest India, says IMD. Top updates

The India Meteorological Department has predicted cold wave conditions over the plains of northwest India for the next four days. “Dense to very dense fog and cold wave conditions very likely to continue over plains of northwest India including Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during next 5 days,” the weather department said Monday.

Above-normal to normal minimum temperatures are likely to prevail over southern parts of the south Peninsula, many parts of northeast India, and some parts of northwest India, the IMD said. “Above normal maximum temperatures are likely over most parts of northeast India and some parts of northwest, east and east central India,” it added.

Rainfall is also in the forecast this month over Northwest India (East Uttar Pradesh, West Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh) and is most likely to be below normal (78 per cent of Long Period Average (LPA)), according to IMD bulletin.

The IMD said below-normal rainfall is most likely over most parts of the country except many parts of south peninsular India and some pockets of central India where above-normal to normal rainfall is expected.

Meanwhile in Delhi, after a brief respite on New Year, cold wave conditions returned and people were found huddled around bonfires along the roads to beat the bone-chilling conditions. Kolkata witnessed lowered visibility in many areas Monday due to cold wave and fog conditions.

In Uttar Pradesh, the weather department has issued an alert for cold wave conditions and very dense fog in 36 districts for the next two days. As per the weather department, the temperature is likely to drop 4.5 degrees Celsius below normal in many districts, including Mirzapur, Varanasi, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Mau, Ballia and Gorakhpur.