It was supposed to be a chilly winter, thanks to the La Nina weather phenomenon. And it turned out to be so, with Delhi recording this winter’s coldest day on Tuesday with the maximum temperature of 12.1°C. This was also the coldest day for the month of January since 2013, when the maximum temperature fell to 9.8-degree Celsius on 3 January 2013, at the Safdarjung weather observatory. Even Mumbai has witnessed its coldest January in a decade, with the minimum temperature dropping by 6-degree Celsius on Monday, and is expected to be at 14 degrees on Tuesday. The cold is expected to last for a few more days before temperatures rise again.
If weather officials are to be believed, the nip in the air is primarily because of a dust storm from neighbouring Pakistan, caused by a Western Disturbance — a storm system that forms in the Middle East and brings sporadic winter rain and snow to northern India in the first 10 days of January. The impact sometimes extends to parts of central India and even the western coast.
What’s a Western Disturbance?
A Western Disturbance is an extratropical storm or a cold front system that originates from the Mediterranean, Caspian and the Black sea. It moves from West to East with moisture carried on mid to upper atmosphere and also embedded in the mid-latitude subtropical westerly jet stream.
