Delhi's minimum temp dips to 5.8 deg C on R-Day, cold day conditions likely

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Another 'cold day' is on the cards in the national capital on Republic Day on Wednesday, but it will not be as chilly as the day before, according to the India Meteorological Department. The night temperature dipped to 5.8 degrees Celsius in the city as cold northwesterly winds sweep the northern plains. The maximum temperature is likely to settle at around 14 degrees Celsius.

Visibility levels will oscillate between 1,000 and 1,500 meters, it said. Delhi had seen the coldest January day in nine years on Tuesday, with the maximum temperature plunging 10 degrees below normal and settling at 12.1 degrees Celsius. Before this, January 3, 2013 had recorded a maximum temperature of 9.8 degrees Celsius, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data.

It was also the second consecutive "severe cold day" in the national capital. The cold was so intense that all weather stations in Delhi recorded their maximum temperatures 10 degrees to 11 degrees Celsius below normal. According to IMD, a "cold day" is when the minimum temperature is less than 10 degrees Celsius and the maximum is at least 4.5 degrees Celsius below normal. A "severe cold day" is when the maximum temperature is at least 6.5 notches below normal.

According to the IMD data, the national capital has recorded six cold days in January so far, the highest in the month in at least a decade. Senior IMD scientist R K Jenamani said Delhi has recorded a maximum temperature of less than 17 degrees Celsius on 11 days this month, equalling the number of such days in 2015. Eighteen such days were recorded in 2003, he said. The maximum temperatures have been lower than normal since the second week of January. Minimum temperatures have been close to or above normal.

This is largely due to fog and low clouds preventing long exposure to sunshine, according to Mahesh Palawat, vice president (Meteorology and Climate Change), Skymet Weather. There have been seven western disturbances in Delhi this January as against a normal of three to four in the month. The rains due to the western disturbances increased moisture in the air, which led to foggy conditions amid low temperatures on most of the days, Palawat said.

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