Overview
- IMD guidance points to minimum temperatures falling by 2–4°C over northwest India in the next two days, with cold wave or cold day conditions flagged for parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and north Chhattisgarh through the weekend.
- Very dense fog is forecast to persist in phases — Bihar through Dec 26, Assam and Meghalaya through Dec 27, Uttar Pradesh through Dec 29, and Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh through Dec 30 — with additional dense fog pockets likely in several Himalayan and northeastern states.
- Fog has already disrupted transport, with Chandigarh International Airport cancelling 13 flights and delaying 35 on Thursday, and multiple long-distance trains arriving hours late, officials said.
- Rajasthan logged some of the lowest minima in the plains — Fatehpur (Sikar) at about 1.6°C and Nagaur near 1.9°C — while Punjab’s Adampur hit 3°C and Kashmir recorded sub-zero readings including Srinagar at around −2.2°C and Gulmarg near −5.8°C earlier this week.
- Kolkata recorded its season-low 13.7°C on Christmas with a further 2–3°C fall expected, Jharkhand issued a cold wave alert for 12 districts with Gumla at 2.8°C, Madhya Pradesh reported severe cold and dense fog with Pachmarhi at 4.2°C, and Telangana continued to post single-digit lows with minima 3–4°C below normal in pockets.