Last week, minimum temperature in Pune fell to 5 degrees Celsius. (Express Photo)There may be some brief respite from the warm weather experienced this week in most parts of Maharashtra, according to officials from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune. Cloudy sky conditions accompanied by moisture had contributed to the sudden increase in both maximum and minimum temperatures over most areas in the state.
The temperature fluctuation was particularly felt by Pune residents, who shivered on the season’s coldest day, February 9, when the minimum temperature in the city fell to 5.1 degrees Celsius. But within a couple of days, the minimum temperature rose by nearly 10 degrees Celsius.
The maximum temperature in the city has also fluctuated. While it was considerably higher on Friday, at 32.6 degrees Celsius, it had remained within a lower range, 26-27 degrees Celsius, earlier this week.
A similar trend was noted in other regions of the state as well, said Met officials.
Meanwhile, relatively warm night conditions prevailed across the state on Friday, with higher minimum recorded temperatures in some cities including Akola (20.3 degrees Celsius), Solapur (19.9 degrees Celsius), Aurangabad (18.6 degrees Celsius), Kolhapur (19.8 degrees Celsius), Satara (17.4 degrees Celsius) and Nagpur (16.8 degrees Celsius).
However, under the influence of western disturbances currently passing through extreme north parts of the country, minimum temperatures are expected to drop by 2 degrees to 3 degrees Celsius across Maharashtra over the weekend.
States such as Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh have also seen heavy snowfall and extremely cold conditions. These strong cold winds have penetrated regions in central India throughout the season.
“The northerly cold winds blowing from these cold regions could influence and contribute to the fall of temperatures over central India, including Maharashtra… ,” said A K Srivastava from the climate monitoring and analysis group, IMD.
The weather agency has also forecast spells of light rainfall over Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh over the weekend.
The temperatures in the coming week will be determined by the fresh western disturbances likely to pass by on Sunday.
