08 December,2010 07:54 AM IST | | Vivek Sabnis
Mercury dips to its lowest this winter
The city is shivering at 10.8 degrees Celsius and according to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), this is by far the coldest day this winter till date. Interestingly, the lowest temperature recorded at Mahableshwar on Tuesday was also 10.8 degrees. However, the winter chill might not continue for long since IMD has predicted that this situation might change in the next 48 hours and the temperature might increase to 15 degrees this winter.
The northeast monsoons due to the prevailing low pressure at Bay of Bengal has resulted in the city being cloudy even in December. Khole explained that the reason for the increase of minimum temperature is due to the pro-rainfall system, which has developed in the Bay of Bengal, and will lead to cloudy conditions and also rise in temperature.
Dr Megha Khole, Director, Weather Forecasting, IMD Pune said, "So far, the city has been witnessing above normal temperature this season. The normal minimum temperature for this time of the year is 11 degrees. It is unlikely that it would dip further. The lowest temperature recorded in December is 3.03 degrees on December 27, 1967."
N G Deshpande, Duty Officer, Weather, added that the change in temperature could be also the because of heavy rains due to the north-east monsoon at the east coast of Andhra Pradesh. "The low temperature in Pune may go up but the possibility of rainfall is low," he said.
