Delhi witnesses coldest October night in 11 years

Delhi Temperature dropped by 13.7 degrees Celsius

Delhi experienced its coldest October night as mercury dropped to 13.7 degrees Celsius.

The national capital on Tuesday experienced its coldest night in 11 years with the mercury dropping to 13.7 degrees Celsius. The temperature was recorded four degrees below the season’s normal. The maximum temperature was tracked at 33.8 degrees Celsius.

According to Safdarjung observatory, the last time Delhi has recorded a lower minimum temperature in October was in 2009, when 13.5 degrees Celsius was recorded on October 26 and 28. The maximum temperature was 33.8 degrees Celsius, a degree above normal, on Tuesday.

Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at India Meteorological Department (IMD) and head of Regional Weather Forecasting Center, said, “Tuesday was the coldest night recorded in October since 2009. In the absence of clouds or fog/mist, the earth warms up during the day but the warmth quickly dissipates into the atmosphere after sunset.”

Reason behind sudden temperature drop according to scientists, the night sky has been clear over the past few days. They also say that the wind at night becomes calm, with the its speed dropping to almost zero. Scientist at the IMD believe that these two factors result in higher radiation from the Earth’s surface at night time which cools the surface and the air close to it.

The minimum temperature has been hovering around 20 degrees Celsius or below since October 2 and has largely remained below normal. However, it rose to 23.7 degrees Celsius on October 14 but minimum temperature has been around 16 degrees Celsius since October 16.