The ongoing cold wave condition in the National Capital will continue for the next two days as per the Weather Department. The Indian Meteorological Department has predicted both 'cold day' and 'cold wave' in Delhi on Thursday and Friday.
The minimum temperature was three notches below normal. The maximum temperature is likely to settle around 19 degrees Celsius, it said predicting 'cold day' conditions at a few places. Meanwhile, dense fog blanketed parts of the national capital that recorded a minimum temperature of 5.8 degrees Celsius on Wednesday morning. The visibility dropped to 100 metres in the Palam area in the morning, IMD said.
According to weather experts shallow to moderate fog in the early hours is likely to persist well into the weekend. The minimum temperatures across most monitoring stations in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi-NCR are expected to drop below 5 degrees Celsius in the coming week.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) declares a cold wave in north India’s plain regions when the minimum temperature is below 10 degrees Celsius for two consecutive days, or if the minimum temperature remains at least 4.5 degrees below the normal for two consecutive days.
While the IMD's automatic weather station in Gurugram did not record the minimum temperature on Wednesday, it had recorded 4.5 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, the coldest day this season.
The IMD declared a cold wave in Delhi on Tuesday as icy winds blowing from snow-covered western Himalayas brought the minimum temperature down to 4.1 degrees Celsius, the lowest in the city this season so far. The maximum temperature had also dipped to 18.5 degrees Celsius, more than four notches below normal.
According to the IMD, the minimum temperature is likely to remain around five degrees Celsius till Friday.
Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD’s regional forecasting centre, said the Western Himalayas recorded widespread snowfall due to strong Western Disturbances and now frosty winds have been blowing towards the plains, bringing the mercury down.