Delhi, Haryana shiver in cold, red-coded warning for today

A red-coded warning has been issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for Sunday for the cold wave conditions in Delhi, Haryana and other neighbouring states. Dense fog is likely to reduce visibility and disrupt air, rail and road traffic.

A red-coded warning, under the IMD's classification, is given for extreme weather events, and a warning for the public to take precautionary action in the adverse weather.

According to an IMD weather bulletin, cold wave conditions are very likely in several pockets of Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh, and in some pockets of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and in some isolated pockets of Madhya Pradesh. The cold wave conditions are also likely in some pockets of Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, north Gujarat and Odisha.

The weather office said the cold weather conditions are likely to prevail over these regions till Monday and abate thereafter. The weather agency said dense to very dense fog is likely to prevail in some isolated pockets on these areas till Sunday morning and abate thereafter.

As per IMD, the minimum temperature on Sunday will be 3 degrees Celsius and the maximum will be 13 degrees Celsius. On Monday the minimum temperature will be 3 degrees Celsius and the maximum will be 14 degrees Celsius.

The Met department has also foretasted rain and snowfall in Kashmir on New Year's Eve, that is likely to give respite to people from the cold wave.

A weather department official said in Jaipur the cold wave is likely to continue for another 24 hours. The department forecast ground-frost conditions in several districts, besides dense fog.

Cold weather conditions can persist in most parts of Odisha, with Sonepur town recording the season's lowest temperature in the state at four degrees Celsius on Saturday. The IMD has foretasted similar conditions to prevail across the state for next 2-3 days.

On Saturday, the respective minimum and maximum temperatures were 3 degrees and 11 degrees. The maximum temperatures will start inching up from Sunday, the Met department added.

While Saturday has been classified as a cold day by the Met department, with mercury plunging to even below two degrees Celsius in some areas of Delhi, which is on its way to record its second-coldest December since 1901.