New Delhi, January 21: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said a wet spell is likely to continue over the Western Himalayan region during the next seven days under the influence of a Western Disturbance. There is a possibility of isolated heavy rainfall or snowfall over the Kashmir Valley on January 22 and 23, and over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand on January 23.
According to the IMD, isolated to scattered rainfall is also expected over the adjoining plains of northwest India between January 22 and 24. Dense fog conditions are very likely at isolated places over Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh during the next two to three days.
The weather office said very dense fog was observed in parts of Haryana and west Rajasthan on Tuesday morning, while dense fog prevailed in isolated pockets of Punjab, west Uttar Pradesh, east Rajasthan and Meghalaya.
Cold wave to severe cold wave conditions were reported in some parts of Himachal Pradesh, while isolated pockets of Punjab experienced cold wave conditions. Ground frost was recorded at isolated locations in Uttarakhand.
Minimum temperatures during the past 24 hours till 8.30 am on Tuesday ranged between 1°C and 4°C at a few places in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Temperatures between 5°C and 9°C were recorded at many places across Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, and at a few places in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
The IMD said minimum temperatures were above normal by 2°C to 5°C over central India and adjoining western India, Haryana, east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and Meghalaya. Temperatures were below normal by 2°C to 4°C at isolated places over Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Telangana, Rayalaseema and Tamil Nadu, while remaining parts of the country reported near-normal temperatures. The lowest minimum temperature of 2.8°C was recorded at Amritsar.
The weather office further noted that an upper air cyclonic circulation lies over northwest Uttar Pradesh in the lower tropospheric levels. An intense Western Disturbance is likely to affect northwest India from the night of January 21.
Upper air cyclonic circulations were also observed over the southeast Bay of Bengal in the middle tropospheric level and over northeast Assam in the lower tropospheric level. Additionally, a subtropical westerly jet stream with core winds of around 130 knots at about 12.6 km above mean sea level is prevailing over north India, the IMD added.
