NAGPUR: The city experienced its coldest day ever on Monday as the minimum temperature dipped to 5 degrees on the Celsius scale. The all-time low temperature of the city before this was 5.5°C experienced on December 29, 1968, 46 years ago to the day. In May last year, the temperature had broken the record on the other side of the spectrum with the city experiencing hottest day ever with maximum temperature of 47.9°C.

The minimum temperature of Yavatmal on Monday also equaled the all-time low for that city. It naturally turned out to be the coldest day of the season in several other cities of the region. Severe cold wave conditions, indicated by the temperatures falling seven degrees or more below normal, prevail in some parts of Vidarbha. This condition is expected to continue for the next two days. The New Year day may also bring some rains, as per the meteorological department. The city was also the coldest place of the region, at least on record. Weather reports from Gondia and Chandrapur have not been available with the regional met department for the last few days. Temperatures there could have dipped further low.

“Cold wave conditions would continue for the next couple of days. A well marked low pressure area that exists over southwest Bay of Bengal is expected to turn into a depression which will result in moisture incursion and possibly bring rains to parts of the region,” informed Vijay Barapatre, director of regional met department. He added the temperatures would remain for the next two days within the range of 27°C and 6°C but would fall at least a couple of degrees from January 1.

Several weather-related records have been broken in the last couple of years. Last year was an especially bizarre one seeing the mercury rise higher than ever before, excessive rains and extreme winter. While anybody glancing through these records would be quick to see this as evidence of climate change, the weathermen don’t agree. “Wind patterns change every year, temperatures and rainfall can be less or more severe due to what happened at other places or things that happened the previous year. We have been recording these changes for a very small time and so should not use terms like global warming and climate change too generously,” Barapatre said.

