A warm westerly component has embedded itself into the flows over the Indo-Gangetic plains but the colder northwesterlies are proving too strong and sustained, to make any significant difference to the chilly weather.
It is now becoming more or less clear that an apparent cold wave is filtering south beyond central India into north-interior Karnataka and Telangana, thus bringing parts of peninsula under its influence.
Minimum temperatures fell appreciably at one or two places over interior Karnataka, Telangana, and north-interior Tamil Nadu during the 24 hours ending Thursday morning, an update by the Chennai Regional Meteorological Centre said.
Adilabad recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 6 degree Celsius in the plains of the peninsula during this period.
In the north, minimum temperatures were below normal by 3 to 5 deg Celsius over parts of Punjab, east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, east Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, interior Orissa, Vidarbha and Marathwada.
An India Meteorological Department (IMD) update on Thursday said that the lowest minimum temperature over plains of the country was -1.0 deg Celsius at Amritsar.
Cold wave conditions were also reported from parts of Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Fog to dense fog conditions prevailed over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
FRESH WESTERLY
Maximum day temperatures were still below normal by 5 to 10 deg Celsius over many parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and north Haryana. Cold day conditions continued to prevail over many parts of Punjab and parts of Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, an IMD outlook said that a fresh western disturbance with warm and rising motion of air is likely to affect western Himalayan region and adjoining plains of northwest India from Saturday onwards.
Under the circumstances, the forecast for dense to very dense fog conditions during the morning hours over parts of Indo-Gangetic plain has been extended for two more days.
In this manner, cold day conditions may abate from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, but not from eastern parts of Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
As for the south, the Chennai Met Centre said that cold wave conditions would occur over northern parts of Telangana during the next two nights as well.
The outlook for the Rabi crop continues to be good, according to Dr L. S. Rathore, Head Agromet Division and Additional Director General of Meteorology, IMD. Dr Rathore, who is in Thiruvananthapuram to take part in the annual conference of users of IMD's public weather services, said that weather conditions have panned out well for Rabi crops, including wheat.
“So far, so good,” he told Business Line, adding that despite the extended cold weather and fog conditions, no damage from frost had been reported from anywhere.
If these favourable conditions persist, we can expect to see Rabi wheat crop size of 79-80 million tones, which is line with the Union Agriculture Ministry estimates, Dr Rathore said. The country produced a record 80.58 million tones of the same crop during the 2008-09 season.
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