Night temperatures are below normal over East India but have looked up over the rest of the country to the West (North-West India) as a causative western disturbance pulled in farther away beyond the border and locked in over North-East Afghanistan. Associated clouds have drifted into Pakistan and North-West India by Tuesday noon, satellite pictures revealed. 

These clouds would progressively move towards East India and North-East India where night temperatures are expected to rise over the next couple of days. Currently, they are below normal by 2-4°C over parts of Bihar, and isolated pockets of East Uttar Pradesh and hills of West Bengal and Sikkim, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) update said. 

Rain, snow outlook

Light to moderate to fairly widespread to widespread rain or snow is likely over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand for the next six days until February 4. Isolated heavy rain/snow is also likely over Kashmir valley and Himachal Pradesh until Thursday and over Uttarakhand on Wednesday. Light to moderate to scattered to fairly widespread rain is likely over Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, and Delhi and isolated to scattered over Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday and Thursday. 

Hailstorm warning

Hailstorms may break out over Jammu-Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana on Wednesday, and over Uttarakhand on Wednesday and Thursday. Strong and chilly surface winds speeding up to 30-40 km/h may prevail over Punjab and Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi on Wednesday and help drive away fog to some extent. As for East India, the IMD has predicted light to moderate scattered to fairly widespread rain or snow for Arunachal Pradesh for the next seven days. Isolated scattered rain is likely over West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura until Friday. Isolated heavy rain or snow is also likely over Arunachal Pradesh on Friday and over the hills of West Bengal and Sikkim on Wednesday and Friday. 

Dense fog cover

Monday night into Tuesday morning saw very dense fog in many parts of Punjab and isolated pockets of Haryana and West Uttar Pradesh. It was dense in many parts of Delhi and isolated pockets over West Rajasthan and Odisha while shallow in isolated pockets of East Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and the hills of West Bengal and Sikkim. Visibility was lowest at 25 metres each at Amritsar, Ludhiana, Ambala, Karnal, Meerut and Bareilly; 50 metres each at Chandigarh, Hissar, Safdarjung, Palam, Ridge, Ayanagar, Churu and Chandbali; and 500 metres at Bikaner, Rourkela, Lucknow, Bahraich, Sultanpur, Patna and Gangtok. These conditions may persist over parts of North-West India and East India over the next two to three days.

Coldest at Motihari

Monday night saw Motihari in Bihar record the lowest minimum temperature of 5°C to become the coldest spot in the country. Meanwhile, a follow-up western disturbance is expected to roll into North-West India over the next three days, bringing in even more moisture and likely sustaining the snow/rain over the heights and rain or thundershowers over the plains. Minimum (night) temperatures are expected to rise by 2-4°C over many parts of North-West and Central India during the next three days due to enhanced cloud cover from the disturbance. Cold wave conditions are ruled out over the country during the next five days. 

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