New Delhi, February 18, 2013- After a wet weekend and generally pleasant temperatures, the Met office has predicted another week of cloudy skies with light showers during the latter part of the week. Although heavy rainfall is not on cards for Delhi and parts of north India, day temperatures may rise gradually.
The cloudy weather is expected as a result of a fresh western disturbance, which is likely to affect the Western Himalayan region and adjoining plains of North-West India from Wednesday onwards.
“It is a relatively weak western disturbance and will not cause heavy rainfall. The result would be mixed – there may be rain and snow in the hills and overcast skies in Delhi,” said B.P. Yadav, chief forecaster at the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Monday and Tuesday would be relatively sunny, but clouds may mask sunlight on Wednesday.
From Wednesday onwards, there would be progressive and marginal increase in both day and night temperatures in Delhi. The day temperature may touch 23 degrees Celsius by Saturday. While cloudy and dry weather will dominate northwestern plains, rain and thundershowers would occur at some places in the East and North-East regions.
On Sunday, minimum temperatures was 2 to 4 degrees below normal in the North and many parts of the country. Cold day conditions prevailed in some parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. The minimum temperature in the city was around 12 degrees on Sunday morning.
Over the next two days, it may drop to about 10 degrees and rise subsequently. Day temperature would be about 18 degrees. IMD said the widespread rainfall recorded in North-West India in last two to three days would prove beneficial for farming, particularly wheat. The rainfall will sustain much-needed soil moisture.
This means farmers could save by skipping at least one irrigation cycle.
Meanwhile, several flights were cancelled on Monday as the visibility reduced to 200 meters.
