Snowfall likely in western Himalayas, cold wave to continue in plains: IMD

New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a weather alert on Sunday, predicting a wet spell over the western Himalayan region until February 3. The forecast included the possibility of isolated heavy snowfall on January 30 and 31, particularly in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Dense fog and frigid temperatures are also expected to continue over Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for the next two days, gradually improving thereafter.

According to the daily bulletin from the weather forecast agency, two consecutive Western Disturbances are projected to impact northwest India starting from January 30, with another expected from February 3.

“Under the influence of these systems, there is a high probability of light to moderate scattered to fairly widespread rainfall/snowfall over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, and Himachal Pradesh in the next seven days,” stated the IMD.

Additionally, isolated heavy rainfall/snowfall is expected over Kashmir on January 30 and January 31, and over Himachal Pradesh on January 31.

The IMD added, “Light/moderate isolated to scattered rainfall/snowfall is very likely over Uttarakhand, with light rainfall expected over Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, and West Uttar Pradesh during January 31 and February 2.”

Furthermore, the IMD reported that minimum temperatures are ranging from 6-9 degrees Celsius over many parts of the plains of Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh. In Rajasthan, temperatures are in the range of 8-10 degrees Celsius.

“These temperatures are below normal by 3-6 degrees Celsius over many parts of the plains of Bihar and East Uttar Pradesh, and in the range of 1-3 degrees Celsius over Haryana, Chandigarh, West Uttar Pradesh, East Madhya Pradesh, Gangetic West Bengal, and north Chhattisgarh. Today, the lowest minimum temperature of 5.2 degrees Celsius was reported at Gorakhpur (East Uttar Pradesh),” informed the IMD.