The Hindu Business Line : Cold snap prompts frost alert in North-West

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan. 11 Minimum temperatures over North-West India and Rajasthan have tumbled by up to 4 degree Celsius as the prevailing western disturbance moved away to the east-northeast, bringing in its wake the cold northwesterlies.

The falling trend in temperatures is set to persist over the next 4-5 days, which would be reversed with the arrival of the next westerly trough around January 15.

FROST WARNING

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasts have warned about the incidence of cold wave and consequent ground frost conditions over isolated pockets of Punjab, north Haryana and north Rajasthan over the next two days.

Rabi wheat may be less sensitive to frost, but other crops such as mustard, gram and pulses are extremely sensitive. Vegetation will not necessarily be badly affected on a night where the air cools to below the freezing point.

But once frost forms, it is possible that the sharp ice crystals may damage leaf cells. Winter fog, however, help prevents the incidence of frost, a condition that Rabi crops would be better off without.

RAINS TO EAST

Night temperatures are set to fall over Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and north Madhya Pradesh during the next three days, the IMD added. Rain/snow is likely at isolated places over Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Punjab during the next 24 hours.

The passage of the western disturbance to the East will bring rain/thundershowers over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya during the same period. Isolated rain/thundershowers have been forecast over extreme south Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir has benefited most from the bout of rain/snow witnessed since the dawn of the New Year. The northern-most meteorological sub-division recorded excess precipitation to the tune of 82 per cent until January 9.

Himachal Pradesh (+10 per cent) and Punjab (+5 per cent) were the other two beneficiaries. But, contrary to expectations, large-scale precipitation eluded Chandigarh-Haryana-Delhi and west Uttar Pradesh. These regions are expected to get wet as the incoming westerly system rolls in around January 15 with a more southerly bias.