Winter hits its peak in Telangana

HYDERABAD: With mercury levels plummeting sharply, winter has reached its peak in the State. The drop in temperature is caused by the low-level north-easterlies passing through the State.

In the last 24 hours, the Kumurambheem Asifabad district recorded the lowest temperature of the season — 4.7 °C — followed by Mancherial (6.7 °C), Medak (7.2 °C) and Adilabad (7.2 °C). In Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits, Secunderabad had the lowest temperature of 10.5 °C.

The minimum temperatures in many pockets across the State were 3 to 5 °C below the average. The forecast suggests that the minimum temperature in northern Telangana is likely to hover around 5 to 7 °C for the coming two days.

According to the India Meteorological Department, cold wave conditions are very likely to prevail in isolated pockets of Adilabad, Kumurambheem Asifabad, Mancherial, Nirmal, Karimnagar, Peddapalli, Jagtial and Rajanna-Sircilla districts for the next two days.

However, meteorologists say that clear skies will prevail in Hyderabad and mist or haze will only be seen during the morning hours. The surface winds are likely to be north-easterlies with the wind speed estimated to be around 3 to 6 kmph. Maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 27 °C and 12 °C, respectively.