Delhi mercury below 5°C in earliest dip since 1987

NEW DELHI: Cold winds and clear skies brought the minimum temperature at Delhi's Safdarjung observatory to 4.9°C early in the morning on Wednesday, 4.7°C below normal, the earliest the weather station (the oldest in the city) has recorded a minimum below 5°C since 1987.

- Abhishek Jha and Jasjeev Gandhiok

India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said the last time the station recorded a minimum temperature below 5°C earlier than this was on December 6 in 1987, when it was 4.1°C.

To be sure, in 1996, the mercury dipped below 5°C on December 11 as well.

The minimum temperature recorded at the Safdarjung station on Wednesday also qualified it as the first cold wave day of the season. IMD considers a departure of 4.5°C or more below normal as a cold wave if the recorded minimum is 10°C or less. The weather department has issued a yellow alert for the city, forecasting cold wave conditions to persist on Thursday and Friday, with the minimum likely to dip further and hover around 4°C.

But Wednesday was not the earliest cold wave day recorded at the Safdarjung station. In 2020, a cold wave day was recorded on November 15. In 2014, one was recorded at the station on November 14.