Wet spell to continue – for now
2 min readPatna: People in the city woke up to a foggy morning on Wednesday, and the weatherman said there would be no respite from the fog and haze till February 1 after which it might rain.
So dense was the fog in the morning that vehicles plying on the road had their headlights on. A jogger said even the gigantic statue of Mahatma Gandhi was not visible from close distance. Flight schedules went haywire and almost all the flights to and from the city airport were delayed due to the poor visibility.
“Fog at low level up to 600 metres increases the chances of haze. There’s possibility of sunshine only when the fog is above 600 metres,” Patna IMD director A K Sen said. According to him, a thick haze, which is neither fog nor cloud but condensed moisture, will continue to permeate the atmosphere and cover the sunshine for a couple of days or so.
Though the minimum temperature recorded on Wednesday was 13 degree Celsius, which is two degree above normal, there was a chill in the atmosphere due to the prevailing haze. The maximum temperature recorded was 18.5 degree Celsius, six degrees below normal, because of the aggravated moisture level in the atmosphere.
Sen also said a fresh western disturbance was likely to hit the western Himalayan region on January 31, which will affect the plains of northwest India from February 2. Bihar will also be hit, and the plains will experience light to moderate rainfall. “Complete sunshine is expected not before February 3 or 4,” said the Met official.
There is also an upper air cyclonic circulation, which is responsible for the change in the weather conditions in north and northwest India. It has already resulted in rain in some parts of western UP. Northwesterly winds are blowing over the Indo-Gangetic plains and adjoining central and east India. These winds will lead to drop in day temperature from Friday and the chill is expected to return.
“In fact, Bihar, especially the plains of the state, will continue to experience the effect of frequent western disturbances till mid-February. The cold spell will come to an end by February,” said Sen.
Courtesy: PTI
