Delhi: December 2018 was the third coldest in 50 years
What's the story
2018 will go down as one of the coldest winters Delhi has ever experienced.
According to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), December 2018 was the third coldest December to have hit Delhi in the last 50 years.
December 2018 also marked Delhi's coldest December in the last 13 years.
Here are the details.
Data
What IMD data tells us about December 2018
According to IMD data, Delhi's average minimum temperature in December 2018 was 6.7 degrees Celsius - the lowest the capital has seen barring 2005 and 1973.
In 2005 and and 1973, Delhi's average minimum temperature in December had been a chilly 6.0 degrees Celsius and 5.9 degrees Celsius respectively.
Notably, the daily minimum temperature in Delhi was below normal for 26 days in December 2018.
Details
December 2018 was indeed a chilly one
In December 2018, Delhi witnessed 14 nights when the minimum temperature was below 6 degrees Celsius, and eight nights when the minimum temperature was less than or equal to 4 degrees Celsius.
The lowest temperature recorded in the capital in December 2018 was in the morning of December 29 when the temperature fell to 2.6 degrees Celsius.
Do you know?
The lowest temperature ever recorded in Delhi
Delhi witnessed its coldest day ever on December 27, 1930 when the minimum temperature fell to a bone-chilling 0 degrees Celsius.
Fog
The absence of fog contributed to low temperatures
The major reason for the sustained chill in the capital was the absence of fog, meteorologists said.
Delhi witnessed its clearest winter in at least 22 years, with just 145 hours of fog in December against the average of 300 hours.
Winds, too, were another major factor contributing to the chilly conditions in the capital.
Winds
Northwestern winds, too, brought the chill to Delhi
Winter temperature for the whole of northwestern India is governed by wind direction which, in turn, is dependent on western disturbances.
If winds come from the northwestern direction, they bring the chill of the hills. Easterly and south-easterly winds, on the other hand, are warmer.
December 2018 saw northwestern winds dominate, thereby keeping temperatures low in the capital.