Delhi's Coldest Day This Year With 3.2 Degree Minimum, 5 Below Normal

In the city's coldest day this year, New Delhi today recorded its lowest temperature of 3.1 degrees Celsius this season, bringing its minimum temperature five notches below normal, as the cold wave sweeping across North India hit the national capital with a force.

A "severe" cold wave has besieged Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, as well as parts of Telangana and Rajasthan this winter. Rajasthan's city of Churu recorded a temperature of minus 0.5 degrees Celsius, while Srinagar, in Kashmir, has reported a subzero minimum of minus 5.8 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature of 3.1 degrees Celsius in Delhi was recorded at Lodhi Road's Safdarjung observatory, considered the official marker for the capital, said the Regional Meteorological Centre, Delhi. Meanwhile, the automatic weather station at Jaffarpur village in west Delhi recorded an even lower temperature of 2.9 degrees Celsius, a reading six notches below normal. 

On Sunday morning, Delhi recorded this season's coldest morning as of yesterday, at 4.6 degrees Celsius, making today the second consecutive day that the national capital has broken its record for its lowest temperature this year.

However, two back-to-back western disturbances and the resultant slowing of cold northwesterly winds from Tuesday night will push the minimum temperature back up, said RK Jenmani, a senior scientist at the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The IMD had predicted severe cold wave conditions in parts of northwest India till December 21.

A "severe" cold wave is when the minimum temperature dips to two degrees Celsius or the departure from normal is more than 6.4 degrees Celsius.

(With inputs from PTI)