Delhi shivers at 3.7 degrees Celsius, coldest December in 12 years

National capital woke up to a chilly morning on Sunday. The mercury dropped to a low of 3.7 degrees Celsius and was the lowest temperature so far this winter in the city. "The minimum temperature was recorded at 3.7 degrees Celsius, four notches below the season's average. It is the lowest temperature recorded so far in this month," the official of the department said. The fall in temperature is because of cold wave conditions prevailing over northwest India. “The heavy snowfall — early for this time of the year — in Jammu and Kashmir, parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, has triggered cold winds that are reaching Delhi. The predicted cold wave conditions are mainly because the sky is clear and in the absence of any cloud layer, the cold winds rapidly cools the earth. This phenomenon is called radiation cooling,” according to IMD.

Delhi recorded 3.7 degrees Celsius early morning today; Visuals from Rajpath and New Delhi railway station pic.twitter.com/zWReY00G8r

— ANI (@ANI) December 23, 2018

ALSO READ | Delhi: Smog covers national capital as air quality turns ‘severe'

The skies will remain clear and the maximum temperature is expected to hover around 22 degrees Celsius. The relative humidity level was recorded at 99 per cent. The all-time lowest temperature in the national capital for the month of December was 1.1 degrees Celsius recorded on December 26, 1945, the data showed.

Delhi is also witnessing bas air quality and on Sunday was recorded in the ‘severe' category. The major pollutants PM 2.5 were recorded at 456 and PM 10 at 521 (very poor category) in the RK Puram area. In the Anand Vihar area, the Air Quality Index (AQI) PM 2.5 was at 604 and PM 10 at 730. At the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium area, PM 2.5 was at 411 and PM 10 at 508. AQI at Punjabi Bagh Delhi was recorded poor, PM 2.5 was at 616 while the PM 10 was at 908. This is a fourth time this season that the air quality here has worsened to severe category. The first time it dipped to the severe category this year was just two days before Diwali.

ALSO READ | Delhi: Cars to get costlier as one-time parking charges hiked 

Delhi is reeling under the menace of air pollution for the past couple of years. The region faced a major air quality crisis last year when severe pollution level forced the shutdown of schools and colleges. In 2016, the government tried to explore the possibility of cloud seeding for artificial rain but the plan never worked out.