The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on November 29, 2019, said that the Northeast along with most parts of India will have a warm winter this season.
The winter forecast (December 2019- February 2020) released on Friday said except for the North, the rest of India will experience a warmer winter.
โIn North, the temperatures are expected to be in the normal range with days slightly chillier,โ the report said.
โThe average minimum temperatures in the country, except in the western Himalayan states, are likely to be higher than normal,โ IMD said.
โThis will account for the warmer winter,โ the IMD report reiterated.
Average minimum temperatures in the north including Delhi-NCR are projected to be +0.5 to -0.5 degrees C on the positive side.
โAverage day temperatures, however, are likely to be in the negative end of the normal range,โ the IMD stated.
โThe forecast shows above normal temperature in most parts of India except in the north,โ IMD added.
โThe winter in the north is likely to be normal,โ said Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, IMD's director-general of meteorology.
โDelhi-NCR temperature projections suggest a slightly higher frequency of cloudy or foggy days,โ he added.
โDaytime conditions will be chillier but the duration of cold waves will be lower- all within the normal range,โ he reiterated.
He further said that โthe northern hill states may see a cold winterโ.
As for the rest of India, he said, โNights are likely to be significantly warmer than normal in south India and interior Maharashtra.โ
โThere will be a positive deviation of more than 1 degree Celsius,โ he added.
โNight temperatures would be higher than normal in the rest of central India, Rajasthan, east UP, and east and the Northeast,โ Mohapatra added.
It was also revealed that in east Rajasthan and west MP days could be colder on average by 0.5 degrees C or more.
โWarm days have been projected in Chhattisgarh, Odisha and south interior Karnataka,โ the report stated.
โAverage temperatures here would be above normal by over 0.5 degrees C,โ the report added.
In the rest of the country, day temperatures are projected to be within the normal range.
D Sivananda Pai, head of IMD's long-range forecasting said the โwarmer-than-normal forecast for this winter has a clear imprint of global warmingโ.
"Model forecasts in recent years mostly show higher-than-normal temperature anomalies,โ he added.
โNegative temperature anomalies are becoming rarer," he further said.
โNorth India during November was hit by a number of western disturbances leading to several snowfall spells in the hills,โ IMD said.
โThis has given rise to expectations that winter could be harsher than usual,โ IMD added.
The IMD, since 2016, has been releasing winter forecast reports and according to it, 2018 was the warmest year globally.
Warm winter in the Northeast was out of my imagination till some years back, but things are changing fast.
Global warming is an enemy that we all need to stand up against and fight.
Northeast, one of the biodiversity hot spots of India, needs to wake up and lead this battle against global warming!
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