Delhi sees coldest day in January in 9 years

Tuesday was also the second consecutive ‘severe cold day’ in the city.

Today, all weather stations in the national capital recorded their maximum temperatures 10 to 11 degrees Celsius below normal.

The Safdarjung Observatory recorded a maximum temperature of 12.1 degrees Celsius, which was the lowest on a January day after 9.8 degrees Celsius recorded on January 3, 2013.

It was also the lowest maximum temperature of the season so far, said R K Jenamani, senior scientist at IMD. He said Delhi today recorded a maximum temperature of 12.1°C which was 10-12°C below normal temperature and the lowest in the season. 

“Cold days will be prevalent in the coming days and night temperature will start falling further from tonight," he added. 

On Monday too, Delhi had recorded a severe cold day. A "cold day" is when the minimum temperature is less than 10 degrees Celsius and the maximum is at least 4.5 degrees Celsius below normal, as per IMD.

A "severe cold day" is when the maximum temperature is at least 6.5 notches below normal. 

According to the IMD data, the capital has recorded six cold days in January so far, the highest in the month in at least a decade.

This month, Jenamani said, Delhi has recorded a maximum temperature of less than 17 degrees Celsius on 11 days, equalling the number of such days in 2015. Eighteen such days were recorded in 2003, he said.

With inputs from PTI