Delhi continued to reel under biting cold on Sunday, with isolated pockets of the city recording coldwave conditions as the mercury dipped to as low as 2.9°C, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. Safdarjung, the city’s base station, recorded a minimum temperature of 4.8°C on Sunday, after logging a season’s lowest of 4.2°C a day earlier.
Other parts of the capital were colder, prompting the IMD to declare isolated coldwave conditions. Ayanagar recorded a minimum of 2.9°C, Palam 3°C and the Ridge station 3.7°C.
The IMD has forecast the continuation of coldwave conditions in the capital on Monday as well.
The weather department defines a ‘coldwave’ when the minimum temperature falls below 10°C and is 4.5°C or more below normal, or when the actual minimum temperature drops below 4°C.
“Coldwave conditions were realised over Delhi as Palam, Ridge and Ayanagar reported minimum temperatures less than 4.1°C,” said IMD scientist Krishna Mishra, adding that a yellow alert remains in place for Monday with coldwave conditions likely to persist.
On the maximum temperature front, Delhi recorded a high of 20.2°C on Saturday. However, icy winds are expected to keep the maximum temperature lower, in the range of 16–18°C on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the city’s air quality showed marginal improvement and remained at the higher end of the ‘poor’ category. The 24-hour rolling average air quality index (AQI) stood at 295 (poor) at 8am, compared with 346 (very poor) at 4pm on Saturday, as wind speeds picked up.