Cold wave likely in Vidarbha today; no such forecast for Madhya Maharashtra

PUNE: Maharashtra has got its first cold wave forecast in Vidarbha this season for January 8, but no such conditions have been indicated for Madhya Maharashtra, including Pune, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) stated in its latest forecast on Saturday.
An IMD forecast had recently indicated a drop in minimum temperatures in parts of Maharashtra around January 10-12.
As per the Met department, cold wave conditions have been forecast for Amravati and Nagpur, where night temperatures could fall to 10-11°C on January 8, Gondia (where the minimum could touch 7-8°C). Cold wave conditions have also been forecast for Wardha, where mercury may drop to 9°C by early Sunday morning, the IMD forecast revealed.
On Saturday, the minimum temperatures were 1-5° below normal in some parts of Vidarbha.
An IMD official told TOI, "Penetration of northerly wind (from western Himalayan region) over parts of Maharashtra is expected for a few days. We may see a drop in minimum temperatures in some parts of Maharashtra during the next two to three days, after which the falling trend is likely to dissipate. An anticyclonic circulation is forming over north-west India, because of which the out-flow will be mainly north-westerly or northerly. We, therefore, expect to get cold winds from north India, causing a drop in night temperatures in the coming days."
An IMD national forecast on Saturday said minimum temperatures were very likely to rise by about 2°C over many parts of the plains of northwest India after two days. No significant change in minimum temperatures was very likely over east India during the next three days. It could rise about 2-3°C thereafter, the forecast stated.
The forecast also indicated a fall by 2-3°C in minimum temperatures over Madhya Pradesh during the next two days and cold wave conditions in isolated pockets over Vidarbha, Punjab, Bihar, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and north Odisha during the next two to three days.
On Saturday, the minimum temperatures were significantly above normal in parts of Madhya Maharashtra, including Shivajinagar and Lohegaon which recorded 16.3°C and 18.5°C as their minimum temperatures respectively, nearly 5-6° higher than the normal daily minimum temperature for January.
IMD on Saturday also revised its minimum temperature forecast for parts of Pune city. On Friday, the Met department had indicated single-digit temperatures for Pune on January 10 and 11, which it revised to 10-11°C in the coming days.
The criteria adopted by IMD to define a cold wave include when the minimum temperature of a station is 10°C or less for plains and 0°C or less for hilly regions.
When based on temperature departure, a cold wave is considered when there is a 4.5°C to 6.4°C negative departure from normal. In case of severe cold wave, the negative departure from normal is more than 6.4°C.
For coastal stations, cold wave conditions are indicated when minimum temperature departure is -4.5°C or less over a station.