The national capital on Saturday recorded its coldest day of the season as the minimum temperature plummeted to 2.4 degrees Celsius in the morning, officials said. The mercury even plunged to below two degrees Celsius in some areas with the Lodhi Road Observatory recording a low of 1.7 degrees Celsius.
In view of the severe cold wave, the IMD has issued a red-coded warning for several northern states, including Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. A red-coded warning is given for extreme weather events.
On Sunday, however, temperatures have risen by 2-3 °C at many places over UP, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, temperature has risen by 1-2 °C at many places over Bihar and by 0.5 °C-1 °C at a few places over Madhya Pradesh and isolated places over Rajasthan, the Indian Met Department said.
“However temperatures have fallen by 1-2 °C at a few places over West Rajasthan and West Madhya Pradesh during past 24 hours observed at 05:30 hours IST of 29.12.2019. No significant change in temperatures over remaining parts of northwest India,” it said.
As per RK Jenamani, senior scientist at the National Weather Forecasting Centre, a 'red colour' warning has been issued for Saturday and Sunday for areas like Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, north Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh as the temperatures are going below normal, news agency ANI reported.
"We have brought this thing, time to time through our forecasts that this season - December 2019 is a record-breaking cold season. We also mentioned that during night time, a cold wave may be witnessed," he was quoted as saying by the news agency.
"For Delhi, in the last 24 hours, severe cold wave has been witnessed. This was also the same day before yesterday. For the first time, we updated our warning to red colour yesterday. Similarly, in the case for Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, temperature from zero to one-degree Celsius is very dangerous," he said.
The India Met Department issued a list of major north India stations and their temperatures on Sunday.