March had been behaving more like May until a few days ago. After weeks of unseasonable heat, a powerful Western Disturbance has swept in.
On Friday, March 20, people are expected to feel nothing short of winter-like chills across Delhi and much of North India.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of rare cold-day conditions across North India.
Maximum temperatures in Delhi are likely to drop to between 25 and 27 degrees Celsius on Friday, nearly 10 to 15 degrees below normal for this time of year.
Independent weather expert Navdeep Dahiya flagged this as extraordinary, noting that maximum temperatures across cities in Delhi-NCR, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh could range from 16 to 22 degrees Celsius. Bring your woolens out, he advised.
WILL RAIN AND STORMS HIT DELHI ON FRIDAY?
The IMD has forecast one or two spells of light to moderate rain accompanied by thunderstorm, lightning and surface winds gusting up to 50 kilometres per hour over Delhi through Friday evening.
A spell of very light rain with strong winds is also expected in the morning hours, before a more intense bout arrives in the forenoon through the evening.
Devendra Tripathi, founder of Mausam Tak and weather vlogger for Kisan Tak, explained the situation.
“On March 20, pre-monsoon activity will continue in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan before noon. After noon, activity will decrease in these states,” Devendra Tripathi said.
The weather expert also said that scattered to isolated rainfall is expected across Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha, the north-eastern states, and parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
WHERE WILL HAILSTORMS AND HEAVY RAIN HIT HARDEST?
Isolated hailstorm activity is likely over Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and East and West Uttar Pradesh on Friday, according to the IMD.
Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim face the worst of it, with very heavy falls expected on Friday. The Oodlabari Tea Estate in West Bengal had already recorded 22 centimetres of rainfall in the 24 hours to Thursday morning.
Hailstorms are also expected over Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand on March 20, and Gangetic West Bengal and Odisha on March 20 and 21.
WHEN WILL TEMPERATURES START RISING AGAIN?
Devendra Tripathi warned that cold northerly winds will push into the plains through Friday night and into Saturday, dragging minimum temperatures down across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.
“The minimum temperature will fall tomorrow,” he said. Cities including Nagpur, Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Ahmedabad, Surat and Bhopal are all expected to record a dip.
The IMD noted that a fresh feeble Western Disturbance is likely to affect Northwest India from March 22, meaning the chill may linger longer than expected.
A gradual recovery in maximum temperatures by three to five degrees Celsius is forecast only from March 22 onwards for Northwest India.
