New Delhi: Northern states like Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh will continue to witness the blast of the winter chill for the next two days, following which the mercury will start to rise, the India Meteorological Department said on Thursday.
According to the weather department, icy winds are blowing towards the northern plains from the snow-clad western Himalayan range of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
"Cold day to severe cold day conditions very likely in some to many pockets over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, north Rajasthan and northwest Uttar Pradesh during next 2 days and decrease thereafter," said IMD in its evening bulletin.
Mahesh Palawat from private weather forecasting agency Skymet Weather made the same forecast, warning: "Frost is expected over parts of Punjab, Haryana, west Uttar Pradesh and north Rajasthan during next two to three days."
Navdeep Dahiya, founder of Live Weather of India, also issued a frost alert for the northern India and said that clear skies at night and icy winds in plains will result in drop in minimum temperature on Friday.
According to Dahiya, Punjab, west Haryana and northwest Rajasthan's rural areas are on high risk for frost, while Delhi-NCR and West Uttar Pradesh are on moderate risk.
The national capital recorded the lowest minimum temperature of the season so far with mercury dipping to 3.5 degrees Celsius on Thursday.
"Ridge observatory has recorded the minimum temperature of 3.5 degrees Celsius. The cold wave condition will persist till December 18, following which the temperature will rise up a notch," IMD's regional forecasting centre head, Kuldeep Srivastava told IANS.
Cold wave to severe cold wave conditions are very likely in some pockets over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, west Uttar Pradesh and north Rajasthan during next three days and decrease thereafter.
The IMD designates days as cold wave days in the plains if the minimum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or lower and at the same time, 4.5 degrees or more below the average minimum temperature for the day for two consecutive days.
There will be, however, no significant change in minimum and maximum temperatures over northwest India during next two days and a rise by 2-3 degree Celsius in minimum temperatures and 5-6 degree Celsius in maximum temperatures during subsequent three days.
"Fall in minimum temperatures by 3-5 degree Celsius over east Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh and by 4-6 degree Celsius over east India during next 3 days," the IMD stated, adding that there will be fall in minimum temperatures by 2-3 degree Celsius over west India during next 48 hours.
No significant change in minimum temperatures will be witnessed over remaining parts of the country during next two days. Dense fog will be there in isolated pockets over Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram during next three days.
Under the influence of the easterly wave, scattered to fairly widespread rain or thundershowers very likely over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal, Kerala, Mahe and Lakshadweep area during next three days.
"Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall very likely over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal on 17th December and isolated heavy falls on 18th and 19th December and over Kerala and Mahe on 18th December and over Lakshadweep on 19th and 20th December," the weather agency added.
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