Hyderabad/New Delhi: As many as 16 trains were running late in the Northern Railway region due to foggy weather conditions, the Indian Railways said Friday while the met department Thursday assured that cold wave conditions are unlikely in the next few days, thanks to the western disturbances.
A western disturbance is a weather system that occurs when warm moist winds from the Middle East approach a region thereby leading to a change in the wind direction of the place. In the northern planes, these warm winds lead to a change in the direction of the chilly northwesterly winds that blow from the Himalayas in the winter months. This leads to an increase in temperatures, thereby offering some respite from the cold.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that cold wave conditions prevailed in pockets of south Haryana, east Rajasthan, north Madhya Pradesh and Bihar on Thursday. The minimum temperatures settled in the range of 2 to 5 degrees Celsius in some parts of north Madhya Pradesh and isolated parts of Haryana and east Uttar Pradesh.
"Cold wave to severe cold wave conditions prevailed over Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh and northern parts of Madhya Pradesh from January 15 to January 18. With the impact of a fresh western disturbance from January 19, cold wave abated from most parts of these areas," the IMD said in a statement.
"No cold wave conditions over north India during the next five days," the weather forecast department said adding that another active western disturbance is very likely to affect the western Himalayan region from the night of January 20 till January 26 and the plains of northwest India from January 23 to January 25.
