The Hindu Business Line : Chill in north as New Year dawns

Parts of North and northwest India are in the grip of a moderate cold wave at the dawn of the New Year, with Adampur (Punjab) in the plains recording a minimum temperature of 1 deg C on Saturday.

The cold wave has been triggered with a prevailing western disturbance and its warm front moving away in a northeast direction, clearing the way for cold air to rush in from behind.

An update by India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that night temperatures have been ranging from 2- to 4 °C over parts of northwest India.

TO HOLD FOR 2 DAYS

Ground frost conditions have been reported from isolated pockets of Punjab, north Haryana and north Rajasthan. Cold wave conditions have also been reported from parts of east Uttar Pradesh.

These conditions are likely to continue for the next two days, and will abate only with the approach of a western disturbance and its warm front around Thursday next (January 4).

Early morning fog is also likely over the parts of north India during the same period.

Ground frost conditions are likely to sustain over isolated pockets of Punjab, north Haryana and north Rajasthan during the next two days, the IMD forecast said. Scattered rain/snowfall activity has been predicted for the western Himalayan region from Thursday onwards. Isolated rain/thundershowers are also likely over plains of northwest India.

EASTERLY WAVE

Meanwhile, in the South, some weather activity is being forecast for the peninsula under the influence of an incoming easterly wave. This is going to be a big-amplitude wave, if not a full-fledged low-pressure system, according to Dr K.J. Ramesh of the Department of Science and Technology.

This will bring at least one spell of good rain to the southern Tamil Nadu coast by the middle of the second week of the New Year. Both the European Centre for Medium-Term Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) and the US National Centres for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) are in agreement with this outlook.

According to the IMD, a trough of low at sea level lay over Andaman Sea and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal on Sunday. Another trough of low lay over southwest Bay. Their continued presence will help the incoming easterly wave to hold itself together and keep moving west inside the territorial waters.

Model predictions indicate that the wave accentuating in advance over the South China Sea by Friday (January 5), before propagating west into Indo-China. It is seen strengthening over southeast Bay, and drifting into south-central Bay by January 9. It is predicted to cross into the peninsula by January 10.

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