Winter almost over in Telangana? IMD hints at season’s end, says state won’t see cold wave conditions

While there have been days when the minimum temperatures dropped considerably, for instance in the second week of January, it did not meet the criteria for a cold wave condition. For example, Sirpur in Komarambheem Asifabad recorded 11.4 degrees Celsius on January 7, whereas, the same day the previous year the lowest temperature recorded was 4.7 degrees Celsius.

“It has been a generally warmer winter this season with minimum temperatures near to normal or above normal on most days. There was not a single day of cold wave conditions and the lowest minimum temperature recorded for the season is 8.5 degrees Celsius in Adilabad,” said Kopparthi Naga Ratna, Head of the IMD’s Meteorological Centre, Hyderabad.

The IMD has predicted dry weather to prevail over the state in the coming days and temperatures to further rise after a week. On February 1, Adilabad district recorded a departure of 5 degrees Celsius in the minimum temperature and over 3 degrees Celsius in the maximum temperature. “Rise of temperature could be because of many factors, of which prevailing El Nino conditions could be one,” Naga Rathna added.

Another reason is that the region was not impacted by western disturbance and did not receive northerly winds.

The overall weather trend for the state has been such that the region experienced only southerly and easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal throughout the season. Will a warm winter mean a harsh summer? Officials said the IMD would explain the forecast for the summer by the end of the month.

The summer is likely to be warmer for sure, say experts, such as Y V Rama Rao, who works as a weather consultant with the state-run weather monitoring agency Telangana State Development Planning Society (TSDPS).

Rao, who retired as deputy director general of the IMD, said summer temperatures are likely to be above normal just as it was during the winter season due to the El Nino effect. “Due to the La Nina effect in the last two years, we saw normal or below normal temperatures in Summer. This time, due to the El Nino effect which is likely to continue till Summer, temperatures are likely to be above normal,” said Rao.

Over the last few days, the minimum and maximum temperatures have been two to three degrees above normal across the state. The second week of February is considered the official offset of winter. On Friday, the lowest minimum temperature recorded in the state was 14.6 degrees Celsius at Patancheru near Hyderabad. Throughout the three months of winter, minimum temperatures dropped below 10 degrees only half a dozen times.