Brief letup till New Year, but chill to make quick return in Gurugram, may hit 5 degree Celsius

GURUGRAM: Mercury rose for the second consecutive day in the city on Thursday due to the impact of a western disturbance in the region. The city is, however, likely to have a cold start to the new year, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issuing a 'yellow alert' for cold wave conditions in the city on January 1 and 2.
A cold wave is declared when the minimum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or below and it is at least 4.5 notches below normal.
The minimum temperature on Thursday was 8.4 degree Celsius, a notch above normal, compared to 7.6 degrees Celsius the previous day. IMD forecasts this to rise to around 9 degrees by Friday. The night temperature is likely to dip to 5 degrees by next week, according to IMD. The maximum temperature was 23.5 degrees Celsius, up from 21.1 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.
Thursday witnessed clear skies in the morning hours, with shallow fog in some parts of the city.
"The western disturbance will impact the weather till December 31, after which the region will again witness fog and cold winds that will bring down the minimum temperature by four degrees from January 1. This will continue for the next few days," said Manmohan Singh, director of IMD (Chandigarh).
According to the department's forecast, dense fog is very likely in isolated pockets over Haryana and Punjab in the next 24 hours, and dense to very dense fog in isolated pockets over Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh in the subsequent 3-4 days.
The overall air quality index (AQI), though 'poor', saw a marginal improvement at 257 on Thursday from Wednesday's 261. It is likely to worsen in the next 2-3 days due to a dip in minimum temperature.
According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), surface winds with speeds ranging from 8kmph to 16kmph are likely to worsen air quality for the next three days.
The AQI is likely to deteriorate but remain 'very poor' in the next three days due to low temperature and moderate surface winds, it said. On Thursday, air quality was poor at all four of the city's air monitoring stations - Teri Gram (267), Vikas Sadan (247), Sector 51 (276) and Gwalpahari (237). According to guidelines issued by the Central Pollution Control Board, residents can face breathing discomfort due to prolonged exposure to 'poor' air.