Cold wave back, icy winds sweep Lucknow

LUCKNOW: Lucknow residents reeled under ‘cold day’ conditions as dry icy winds swept the city on Friday.
Even the sunshine did little to bring any relief from the biting cold.
The gusty wind will continue to lash the city till Sunday accompanied by moderate to dense fog in the morning. Temperatures, however, will rise on Monday and Tuesday, followed by possibilities of thundershowers on Wednesday and Thursday.
The western disturbance (WD) responsible for Wednesday’s rain and Thursday’s overcast sky fizzled out on Friday.The phenomenon led to the revival of northwesterly winds coming from the hilly areas, which witnessed snowfall recently.
As the sky was clear overnight, the minimum temperature dropped to 7 degrees Celsius, a degree below normal. Icy winds condensed the moisture left behind by rain into fog in the morning, but the haze cleared by 9am due to the winds. The wind speed was recorded as 15km/hour.
As a result, despite the sunshine, the maximum temperature – peak value of mercury during the day – was restricted to 16.8 degrees Celsius, five units below normal. As per meteorological terminology, such a state is referred to as a ‘cold day’.
State Met director JP Gupta said, “Two WDs are expected to hit the hills next week. The one on Monday (January 13) will cut off the flow of icy winds towards plains, resulting in a rise in temperatures across the state. It may cause rain in the western part of UP, but the eastern region will generally remain dry. The WD will disintegrate by January 14.”
“The second WD is expected on Wednesday (January 15) and would make the weather conducive for rain or thundershowers across the state on January 16-17,” he added.