Change in direction of wind makes Pune cold overnight

PUNE: The minimum temperature in Pune on Tuesday plunged to 9.5°C — a sudden departure from the double-digit temperatures recorded over the past few nights.
The city’s minimum was just a few notches higher than some North Indian stations like Delhi, Amritsar and Ludhiana where the recorded temperatures on Tuesday morning were in the 8.4°C-8.8°C range.





Like Pune, the minimum temperature had fallen across the state on Tuesday. Ahmednagar (9.2°C) and Nashik (9.4°C) were, in fact, slightly cooler than Pune.

A comparison between the night temperatures on Monday and Tuesday showed that several stations witnessed a 3°C-4°C dip. Pune’s (Shivajinagar) minimum on Monday was 12.9°C, which fell to 9.5°C on Tuesday. The temperature in Lohegaon also dipped to 12°C on Tuesday from Monday’s 14.9°C. Jalgaon was a warm 14.2°C on Monday morning, but it recorded 10.4°C on Tuesday. Mahabaleshwar was 16.6°C on Monday morning, but the mercury dropped to 13.5°C on Tuesday.

An India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said the cold northerly winds have begun to flow into Maharashtra. “Last week, when parts of the state experienced a rise in the night temperature, the wind direction was southerly. Such winds are warmer and humid. Moreover, a trough over the Konkan coast was causing cloudy skies and trace rainfall in some places. That too caused the rise in night temperatures,” he said.

While a week back, cloudy night skies were causing the minimum temperatures to spike, the night skies have cleared up now reversing the trend. The IMD has forecasted “mainly clear skies” for the next few days. “The minimum temperature in Pune is likely to be in the 10°C-11°C range. A western disturbance is affecting the Jammu and Kashmir, changing the wind direction to northerly in Maharashtra,” he said.

IMD additional director general Mrutyunjay Mohapatra told TOI that the western disturbance — which is likely to cause some rains in northwest India — is also causing a rise in temperatures in northwest India and a drop in temperatures in parts of west India. “When a western disturbance approaches northwest India, the temperature increases there. When the western disturbance passes, the northern parts of the country become colder and the southern parts get comparatively warmer,” he said.