Cold wave intensifies, temperature dips to zero degrees in Karnal

Temperature in Karnal district dropped to zero degrees on Sunday as the cold wave intensified across the northern part of India.

While Gurugram recorded 1.4 degrees Celsius, temperatures in Hisar and Rohtak were docking at 2.7 degrees and 3.8 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Chilly winters accompanied by the menace of air pollution is making a deadly combination for people residing in the national capital and nearby areas.

In Delhi, minimum temperatures dropped marginally in many areas on Sunday morning. The lowest temperature was recorded near Lodhi Road (3.7 degrees Celsius), followed by Safdarjung (4.0 degrees Celsius), Aya Nagar (4.8 degrees Celsius) and Palam (5.6 degrees Celsius). Furthermore, the overall air quality index of Delhi was 419, which falls in the 'hazardous' category.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), western disturbance lies over Afghanistan and adjoining north Pakistan and is likely to affect higher reaches of the western Himalayan region during the next 48 hours. Light to moderate northwesterly winds likely to prevail over northern plains and easterly winds also likely over central India and adjoining plains.

"Under this scenario, minimum temperatures very likely continue to prevail below normal by 2-3 Degree Celsius over many parts of plains of northwest, central and east India during next 2-3 days. Due to light to moderate winds and higher relative humidity shallow to moderate fog with isolated dense fog also likely over northern plain during next three days," IMD said.

Dense fog was also reported at isolated places over Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi. Visibility in some areas such as Patiala was merely 25 meters.

In Amritsar, five flights were delayed as operations at the airport came to a halt. Meanwhile, flight operations are expected to begin at 1 pm at Chandigarh International Airport due to prevailing weather conditions.

On the other hand, rains are once again moving towards Kerala and South interior Karnataka.

According to Skymet Weather, a trough of low is seen extending from Equatorial Indian Ocean to North Tamil Nadu. This trough would be gradually moving in the west direction. "With this, we can expect light to moderate rain and thundershowers over the region during the next 24 hours. Moderate rains would be confined to eastern parts of Kerala, particularly those adjoining to Nilgiri region of Tamil Nadu," it added.

Currently, Karnataka is battling with downpour deficiency to the tune 47 per cent. The region has recorded 98.5 mm of rain against the normal of 186.8 mm from October 1 to December 22. Region wise, North Interior Karnataka has been deficient by 65 per cent till now, followed by South Interior Karnataka by 41 per cent and finally Coastal Karnataka at 32 per cent, Skymet noted.