Winter’s tale packs a punch, day temperature drops to 15.2 °C in Lucknow
letters@hindustantimes.com
The winter made its presence felt with telling effect on the second last day of the year as residents of Lucknow woke up to overcast conditions and the day temperature dropped to 15.2 degrees Celsius (5.9 degrees Celsius below normal) on Monday.
Though the night temperature rose to 13.3 degrees Celsius (5.9 degrees above normal), the difference between the day and night temperatures was less than two degrees Celsius for the first time this winter, giving people of the state capital a taste of the year-end chill.
The forecast for Lucknow is shallow to moderate fog in the morning hours and mainly clear sky later. Maximum and minimum temperature will be around 18 and 11 degrees Celsius, respectively. IMD has issued warning of cold day “very likely” over the area.
The lowest minimum temperature of 6 degrees Celsius in the state was recorded at Bulandshahr even as the weather is most likely to be dry over Uttar Pradesh. Met department has issued warning of dense fog very likely at isolated places and cold day likely at isolated places over the state.
Citing reasons for drop in the day and increase in the night temperature, Atul Kumar Singh, senior scientist at met department in Lucknow said, “Due to stability in the lower troposphere, the radiational heating of the day and radiational cooling of the night has been blocked. Due to which the difference between day and night temperatures has reduced considerably.”
Because of the combined effect of the chill factor of cold north-western winds coming from the mountainous areas, there has been an effective drop in day temperatures in the state, resulting in cold day like conditions, although the night temperature at most places is still above 10°C, which is much higher than normal.
“It is likely to continue like this without any significant change till January 1, thereafter due to the removal of the layer of fog under the effect of the next western disturbance, the temperature is likely to increase again,” he said.
During the last 24 hours, the night temperature fell significantly in the Jhansi division of the state. Prayagraj and Agra divisions recorded a significant decrease. There was no major change in the remaining divisions. The night temperature was markedly above normal (more than +5.0 degrees Celsius) in Varanasi, Ayodhya, Lucknow and Meerut divisions of the state; appreciably above normal (+3.1 degrees Celsius to +5.0 degrees Celsius) in Gorakhpur, Bareilly, Moradabad and Agra divisions and above normal (+1.6 degrees Celsius to +3.0 degrees Celsius) in the remaining divisions.
