Above-normal temperature in some parts of India this winter: IMD

GUWAHATI: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday issued forecasts of normal or above-normal temperature in many parts of India, including the northeastern and southern states, this winter season, counted from December 1 till February-end.
“During the upcoming winter season (December 2021 to February 2022), normal to above-normal minimum temperatures are most likely over many parts of northwest India, most parts of south and northeast India, and some areas along the foothills of the Himalayas,” said an IMD release on Wednesday.
While below-normal minimum temperatures are most likely over some parts of north interior peninsula, it added that below-normal maximum temperatures are likely over most parts of the country except over some parts of northwest India and most parts of northeast India, where normal to above-normal maximum temperatures are most likely. Cold weather has already returned in the hilly states of the northeast before the onset of winter season. Mercury dipped lowest in the Nagaland capital of Kohima on Wednesday morning when minimum temperature was recorded at 7.4 degrees Celsius. In Imphal too, the minimum temperature went below 10 degrees Celsius and touched 7.7 degrees Celsius. Four state capitals, including Itanagar (9.2 degrees Celsius) and Shillong (9.5 degrees Celsius), recorded minimum temperature below 10 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.
In Assam capital Guwahati, the minimum temperature touched 12.9 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, a departure of 1.6 degrees Celsius below normal. The minimum temperature was recorded to be highest in South Assam’s Silchar (16.9 degrees Celsius), which was 2.3 notches above normal. Cloudy sky has resulted in a marginal rise in winter temperature in Silchar and parts of the Barak Valley.
Though the minimum temperature in Kohima, Shillong and Imphal remained almost static over the past one week, in Guwahati, it dropped by almost five degrees Celsius since November 24, when the minimum temperature recorded in the city was 17.7 degrees Celsius.
“In the plains of the northeast, the drop in minimum temperature is gradual but it is likely to increase in the next three to four days,” Sunit Das, a senior scientist at Regional Meteorological Centre of IMD told TOI.
The Met office in Guwahati issued a forecast on Wednesday evening, stating that shallow to moderate fog will most likely occur at isolated places over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura in the next 24 hours. It said that weather will most likely remain dry over all seven NE states during the period. Fog or mist in the morning is predicted in Guwahati and neighborhood, but later, sky will remain mainly clear. Maximum and minimum temperatures are most likely to be 27 degrees Celsius and 13 degrees Celsius respectively in the city.