Nights are forecast to get progressively colder for North-West India in the run-up to the dawn of the New Year, 2013.
This will happen as rains heralded by an intervening western disturbance dry up and cold Arctic air blows into the region.
DENSE FOG
Meanwhile, dense to very dense fog hung over parts of east and North-West regions until morning on Thursday.
East Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and isolated pockets of Haryana, north Madhya Pradesh and north West Bengal slipped variously under fog cover during the period.
The weather-making western disturbance lay anchored over north Pakistan and neighbourhood.
An India Meteorological Department (IMD) outlook said dense fog would extend to over parts of east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam on Friday.
HEAVY IN HILLS
A three-day outlook said that fog to dense fog conditions may skip Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and West Uttar Pradesh. Instead of fog, light rain or thundershowers has been forecast at one or two places over Punjab, north Haryana and Chandigarh during the next two days.
This is apparently because IMD expects moisture content to drop as rain or snow at many places over Jammu and Kashmir.
Rain or snow has been forecast also at a few places over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand on Friday before scaling up further in intensity.
A weather warning said heavy rain or snowfall might get dumped over Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh during next two days.
Cold day conditions (from lack of cloudiness) until now would abate over plains of North-West as the western disturbance brings in a bank of clouds.
EASTERLY WAVE
Minimum temperatures would rise by 2-3 deg Celsius also over central and adjoining east India during next three days.
Prevailing cold wave conditions over Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha and east Madhya Pradesh are expected to lift in this manner.
In the South, an easterly wave would bring thundershowers over coastal Tamil Nadu and at a few places over interior Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Lakshadweep.
Some of the rain might spill over into the New Year, especially over a few places over Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Lakshadweep.
Thundershowers may also lash one or two places over Maharashtra, south Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh into the New Year.