Ranchi: India Meteorological Department's (IMD) Ranchi meteorological centre on Thursday issued cold wave alerts in isolated places across 10 districts of Jharkhand for the next two days. The alert came as minimum temperatures continued to dip several notches below normal since Wednesday night. The cold wave alerts were issued for Garhwa, Palamu, Chatra, Latehar, Lohardaga, Gumla, Simdega, Ramgarh, Bokaro and Dhanbad districts till December 15.
The night-time mercury dipped to single digits in nearly the entire Jharkhand on Wednesday. The development came as cloud cover and moisture presence over the state, which had formed over the weekend under the effect of a cyclonic circulation, receded and resulted in clear skies and dry weather.
In Ranchi, minimum temperatures dipped to 8.6 degrees Celsius, which was 1.8 notches below normal. Jamshedpur recorded 9.3 degrees Celsius, which was 2.9 notches below normal. At 8.5 degrees Celsius, Bokaro-Thermal recorded a dip of 4.5 notches below normal while Daltonganj recorded 8.3 degrees Celsius, which was 1.6 degrees below normal.
"Garhwa Krishi Vikas Kendra (KVK) recorded 5.4 degrees Celsius, which was the lowest temperature in Jharkhand in the past 24 hours," the met centre said in its evening weather bulletin. In Ranchi, night time temperatures are likely to hover between 7-9 degrees Celsius till Sunday, the weather office said.
Abhishek Kumar Anand, director-in-charge of IMD Ranchi, said night-time temperatures rose over the past weekend due to the cyclonic circulation. "There are no chances of rain in the next five days and hence there will be a drop in temperatures in the next three days," he said. Automated weather station data in the evening showed that besides Garhwa, minimum temperatures had dipped below 6 degrees Celsius in Chatra, Gumla, Khunti and Lohardaga districts.