Winter chill may evade parts of Maharashtra till December 19

PUNE: Winter is coming, but you will have to wait a bit longer.
According to India Meteorlogical Department (IMD), warmer nights and cooler days will mark a strange, humid winter in parts of Maharashtra till December 19.
IMD’s extended range forecasts indicate that typical December temperatures are likely to evade several parts of the state, especially Madhya Maharashtra — including Pune district — till December 12, and in some parts till December 19.
“Till December 12, parts of Madhya Maharashtra — northern parts of Pune district, Nandurbar, Dhule, Jalgaon, Nashik, parts of Ahmednagar — and Aurangabad in Marathwada are likely to experience minimum temperatures above normal (2-4 degrees). The rest of the regions in the state like — south Madhya Maharashtra, parts of Marathwada, Vidarbha and the entire Konkan — may record near-normal night temperatures,” Anupam Kashyapi, head of weather at IMD-Pune, told TOI.
Till December 19, above-normal night temperatures are likely to prevail in Nandurbar, Dhule, the western parts of Jalgaon, Nashik and western Aurangabad. Pune district might witness near-normal minimum temperatures, he said.
However, day temperatures are likely to be below normal during this period in all the four meteorological subdivisions (Konkan, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha). “Unlike most winters in the past decade, northerly winds (which bring cold, dry winds from north India) are likely to be absent in several parts of the state over the next two weeks, which has also been a trend so far in the post monsoon season and winter. An anti-cyclone over central India has been obstructing the smooth flow of these winds, and the marginally moist easterly/south-easterly winds are also dragging in moisture, causing partly cloudy skies — one reason why we are seeing lower day temperatures and higher night temperatures,” said Kashyapi.