Delhi weather: Temperature takes a back seat as chilly winds make it colder

Tuesday morning saw residents wrapping themselves tight and huddling for heat as the Capital witnessed another very chilly morning.

Tuesday morning saw residents wrapping themselves tight and huddling for heat as the Capital witnessed another very chilly morning.

A cold north westerly wind was held responsible for Tuesday’s extra nip in the air by weathermen.(Arun Sharma/HT Photo)

However, if the Celsius scale is to be believed, the temperature never dropped below six degrees. A cold north westerly wind was held responsible for Tuesday’s extra nip in the air by weathermen — a phenomenon they said would get more severe on Wednesday.

“Just imagine that you are in a room and somebody switches on the fan. We will start feeling colder, even though the temperature in the room does not change. Something similar happens when wind starts blowing in the winter,” explained a weather expert.

The minimum temperature on Wednesday, recorded by the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, was 6.0 degrees as against 8.9 degrees on Monday. This is only a degree below normal for Delhi at this time of the year.

The temperature this year has already touched 3.4 degrees on Thursday, January 12.

In spite of the mercury not registering a sharp dip, weather experts said the cold was more biting because of westerly and north westerly winds since Monday night in Delhi. These winds, they said, passed over snowcapped peaks in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh before reaching the city.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials also confirmed that these winds were responsible for the chill in Delhi. “The wind is making people shiver,” said an official from the IMD.

An expert added that the faster these winds are, the colder you feel. With windspeeds, oscillating between 12-14 kmph during the day, these colder westerly winds had residents shivering on Tuesday, even though the maximum temperature rose to 15.7 degrees Celsius during the course of the day.

The maximum temperature on a comparatively sunny Monday was 19.1 degrees Celsius.

The Regional Weather Forecasting Centre (RWFC) expects the day to get colder on Wednesday, with maximum and minimum temperature expected to be 18 and five degrees Celsius respectively. The cold winds are expected to persist. The Met department also forecasted a moderate to dense fog in the morning.