New Delhi: Delhi reeled under a cold wave on Tuesday as icy winds sweeping through the city brought the minimum temperature down to 3.6 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department said.
The Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative data for the city, recorded a minimum of 3.6 degrees Celsius and a maximum of 18.1 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal.
The weather stations at Ayanagar and Lodhi Road recorded a low of 2.6 degrees Celsius and 2.7 degrees Celsius, respectively, it said.
In the plains, the IMD declares a cold wave if the minimum temperature dips to 4 degrees Celsius. A severe cold wave is when the minimum is 2 degrees Celsius or less.
The India Meteorological Department said the mercury may drop further by New Year's Eve.
Cold wave conditions are predicted in parts of the city over the next three days, it said.
Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the regional forecasting centre of the IMD, said a Western Disturbance led to "scattered to fairly widespread" snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Cold and dry northerly/northwesterly winds from the western Himalayas have been barreling through the plains, bringing the minimum temperature in north India down, he said.
According to IMD, a cold wave is also declared when the minimum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or below and is 4.5 notches less than normal.
A "severe" cold wave is when the minimum temperature dips to two degrees Celsius or the departure is more than 6.4 degrees Celsius.
On December 20, the Safdarjung Observatory recorded a minimum of 3.4 degrees Celsius, the lowest this season so far.
Delhi's air quality was recorded in the "poor" category on Tuesday morning.