M A I N   N E W S

Cold bridges North-South divide, Mysore sees coldest day in 120 yrs
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 18
While people in the northern part of the country are quite used to battling cold wave during winters, the season this year sprung a surprise for the south, with an unprecedented cold wave sweeping the region, breaking more than a century-old temperature record for several places.

According to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Ajit Tyagi, the cold wave phenomenon in parts of the South is “unusual” but not something that has not been experienced before.

“The cold wave in Karnataka and adjoining areas is in sync with persistently low temperatures in the North and owing to lack of cyclonic activity in the Bay of Bengal, which, otherwise, would have brought warm oceanic waves to the region,” he explains.

So while Tyagi calls the chill sweeping across the southern parts of the country “unusual” and also acknowledges that a 120-year-old temperature record has been eclipsed at a particular place, he stops short of attributing the phenomenon to climate change.

“The very fact that a record has been broken means that a temperature this low was registered before,” he asserts.

Meanwhile, up in the North, people may get some temporary respite from the bone-rattling chill but cold weather conditions are likely to persist till almost the end of this month.

The IMD chief says Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir can expect temporary respite around January 22, 23 and 24, but long-standing relief from cold will come only in the first week of February.

“However, the chill in the North is quite normal for the month of January…it is nothing unusual,” he says.

The Met office has predicted that the minimum temperatures will fall by 2 to 4 degree C in parts of north-west and adjoining Central and East India till January 21, leading to cold wave conditions in parts of these regions during the next two-three days.

On the other hand, maximum temperatures will see an increase of 2 to 5 degree C in parts of North-West and Central India during the next two to three days.

During the past 24 hours or so, the minimum temperatures fell by 2 to 3 degree in some parts of the north-west and adjoining central India. They are currently below normal by 2 to 4 degree C in parts of Rajasthan and south peninsular India. At 7.7 degree C, Mysore recorded its coldest day in 120 years while Bangalore registered its coldest day of January in 19 years with minimum temperature touching 12 degree C.