National weather forecast and temperatures: Tuesday, January 21

The National Capital Region, including Delhi, is expected to face a cold spell and likely fog around the Republic Day since passing western disturbances may not be strong enough to set up any change in the weather over the region.

This is even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) located a fresh, incoming disturbance as a cyclonic circulation over Afghanistan, slightly stronger than expected. It might spark scattered to fairly widespread rain/snow over the hills of North-West India until tomorrow (Wednesday) and isolated light rainfall over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi.

Dense fog

This might be followed by another weak disturbance towards the weekend, while the next big one may not drift in until the month-end. The first two would have left enough moisture in the air to form dense fog over parts over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, hills of Bengal and Sikkim until Wednesday. The dense fog will waft into the East during the two days that follow, over Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura during night/morning hours.

This (Tuesday) morning, dense fog has been forecast for parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, hills of Bengal, Sikkim, Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. Thunderstorms accompanied by lightning are forecast for parts of Madhya Pradesh.

It was foggy in Delhi at around 9.15 am, with temperature at 11 degrees Celsius, and humidity at 100 per cent, suggesting rain/drizzle in some parts. The Indira Gandhi International Airport, too, reported fog and a similar mercury level. Considerable cloudiness over Chandigarh had lifted it to 13 degrees Celsius this morning, while a foggy morning had brought it down to 10 degree Celsius in Jaipur.

It was mostly cloudy in Amritsar but the temperature had dipped to 4 degrees Celsius, while Ahmedabad reported 19 degrees Celsius under smoke/haze conditions. An IMD bulletin said that very dense fog blanketed parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the morning, reducing visibility to nil at Agra Airport; 25 metres or less in Patiala, Hissar and Lucknow; 50 metres or less in Patna; and 200 metres or below in Ambala, Delhi (Palam), Sultanpur, Gorakhpur, Gaya, Bagdogra and Kailashahar.

Cold wave conditions

Yesterday (Monday) saw cold wave conditions prevail over parts of north Rajasthan while cold day (mercury not exceeding 16 degrees Celsius) conditions hit parts of Uttar Pradesh. The maximum (day) temperature was 35.6 degrees Celsius, recorded at Kochi and the minimum (night) temperature of -0.6 degrees Celsius was recorded at Kota (West Rajasthan) over the plains of the country.

There should be no significant change in maximum and minimum temperatures over the country during next two days but minimum temperatures may fall by 2- to 4 degrees Celsius over North-West India on Friday and Saturday, indicating clear skies or the absence of clouds due to weak or no western disturbance activity.

For tomorrow (Wednesday), the IMD has forecast dense fog over parts of Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. Thunderstorms accompanied with lightning are likely at isolated places over East Madhya Pradesh.

Weather for rest of country

As for the rest of the country, Mumbai looked forward to a sunny day, with mercury logging in at 28 degrees Celsius as early as 9 am. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport International Airport reported clear conditions and a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius. It was sunny to partly cloudy over Pune; and foggy/cloudy early were becoming sunny at Nagpur. Ahmedabad, too, is in for similar weather to nearby Mumbai, although widespread smoke/haze is expected.

Tourist boats and yachts anchored near Mumbai’s Gateway of India, on Tuesday, in dense fog. Photo: Paul Noronha

In the South, Chennai is in for lots of sunshine and the temperature had already touched 27 degrees Celsius at 9.30 am. In Bengaluru, some clouds in the morning had restricted the temperature to 22 degrees Celsius, but they will give way to generally clear conditions and a maximum of 29 degrees Celsius. It was foggy at the Kempegowda International Airport, with the temperature reading at 19 degrees Celsius.

In Hyderabad, the morning haze had delayed warming of the landscape, holding the mercury level to 24 degrees Celsius at 9.30 am but likely to rise to 30 degrees Celsius. The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport recorded a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius under cloudy conditions at 9.30 am.

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