It seems that 2010 put its first step into the Orange City with a very specific agenda in mind: to be everything that 2009 was not. That
is probably why, even before the first sun of the year had risen on Nagpur, mercury dipped to a numbing 8.7 degrees Celsius, lowest minimum temperature so far this season!
The contrast was clear. People had complained that 2009 had been unusually warm. Minimum temperature had never even breached the 10 degree Celsius mark, while the maximum temperature in January itself had gone up to as high as 39.5 degrees. In fact, Friday's minimum temperature was the lowest minimum temperature that the city has seen in January (7.2 degrees) since 2006.
Officials at the regional meteorological office (RMO) in Nagpur say that minimum temperature may dip even further. However, the local forecast for the next 24 hours is a minimum temperature of around 9 degrees, while that for the next 48 hours is a minimum temperature of around 10 degrees.
The cold will especially be felt in parts of northern Madhya Pradesh and northern Chhattisgarh, where forecasts say that the night temperatures may fall as much by four to five degrees over the next 48 hours. It is, therefore, no surprise that the lowest temperature recorded on Friday was just four degrees at Rewa in Madhya Pradesh.
As for Nagpur and Vidarbha, reports say that dry weather continues to persist over the region. This fair weather is said to be the primary cause of the temperature getting chilly. An officer at the RMO informed that whenever the weather is clear, cold winds from the north blow in, causing the temperature to dip significantly. Conversely, whenever there is cloudy weather, the temperature is kept from going down to much.