The Uttar Pradesh capital and other parts of the state, especially Varanasi, Kanpur City, Prayagraj, Ghazipur and Shahjahanpur, are experiencing cold to severe cold conditions as day temperature has plunged sharply in these districts.
According to the met department forecast, there is no relief in sight at the moment from the prevailing cold conditions. The IMD issued an orange alert for dense fog for Monday and Tuesday for many districts of the state.
“Lucknow recorded the coldest day of the season this year on Sunday as day temperature plummeted to 15.3 degrees Celsius which was 5.8 degrees below normal. On December 19, the maximum temperature in Lucknow had dropped to 15.5 degrees Celsius. Last year, the lowest day temperature in December was 14.1 degrees,” said Mohd Danish, senior scientist at Lucknow met office.
The forecast for Monday for Lucknow is partly cloudy sky with cold day conditions during day time and dense fog during morning hours. The maximum and minimum temperature will be around 17 and 10 degrees Celsius respectively. The IMD has issued a warning that dense fog is very likely over the area during morning hours.
The day temperatures in many other UP cities were much below 20 degrees Celsius. Shahjahanpur and Hardoi were lowest at 12.5 degrees, Varanasi (airport) 13.5 and Ghazipur 13.5, Varanasi, BHU, 13.9 and Bareilly 14 degrees Celsius. Likewise, temperature in Azamgarh and Hamirpur was 14.2 degrees Celsius, Kanpur City 14.3, Orai and Muzaffarnagar 14.4, Gorakhpur and Ballia 14.5 and Prayagraj 14.6 degrees Celsius.
The forecast is that the weather will be most likely dry over the state. Warning of dense to very dense fog very likely at a few places over West UP and at many places over East UP. The cold day conditions are very likely at isolated places over the state.
On Sunday, visibility was zero in Agra, Kanpur, Prayagraj and Saharanpur because of severe dense fog in these cities. Meerut 15, Hamirpur 20, Kanpur city 30 m and Lucknow recorded 150-metre visibility.
“This is the minimum visibility recorded at various locations during the last 24 hours, as of 8:30 AM. The time period may vary at different locations, but it is generally during the late night and early morning hours,” said Atul Kumar Singh, senior scientist at Lucknow met office. Tourists, who have arrived in Lucknow for year-end, are facing a lot of hardships due to the biting cold and dense fog.
“We arrived here in Lucknow from Ayodhya by road as our train was six hours late on Saturday. Now our concern is what if our flight to Kolkata on Monday night gets cancelled due to fog in Lucknow,” said Palash Dutta who is on a trip to Lucknow and Ayodhya with his wife Ruma and son Tanmoy.