All schools to remain shut in Haryana for 2 days due to severe cold

The Haryana government has ordered all private and public schools in the state to remain shut on Thursday as intense cold wave sweeps over northern India.

“Due to intense cold waves in the state, the government has declared holiday on 26.12.2019 in all the private and government schools in the state,” Haryana directorate of school education said in a notification.

North India is under the grip of a severe cold spell, with cold or severe cold day conditions likely to continue for the next five days in many areas, according to an India Meteorological Department (IMD) bulletin released on Wednesday.

The national capital, right in the thick of this cold wave (the longest in December in 22 years), again recorded a “severe” cold day on Wednesday with the maximum temperature dropping to 12.7º Celsius, nine degrees below normal. The minimum temperature was 6ºC, two degrees below normal.

A severe cold day is defined as one in which either the maximum or minimum temperature is more than xx degrees below normal.

Since 1993, Delhi has had a cold spell only in four years-- 1997, 1998, 2003, and 2014.

“Due to the persistence of cold northwesterly winds in lower levels over north-west India and other meteorological conditions, cold to severe cold day conditions are very likely in many pockets in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, and in some pockets over north Rajasthan. Cold day conditions at some pockets are also very likely over Madhya Pradesh and Bihar during the next five days.” the IMD bulletin said.

The intense cold spell will continue till at least till December 27.

“There is some sunlight in the day but it’s not intense so it’s not able to improve the situation. The low cloud cover is still shrouding the entire region particularly parts of Punjab and Haryana,” Kuldeep Shrivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre said.

The main difference between a cold spell and a cold wave is that the former involves lower-than-normal maximum or day temperatures for 2-3 days in a row while the latter involves lower-than-expected minimum or night temperatures for at least more than one day. In the coming days we could see both, say experts.

Meteorologists have attributed the unusually cold conditions to a western disturbance (WD) which brought heavy snowfall in the Himalayan region — Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh — and rainfall across the northern plains, including in Delhi on December 12 and 13. That western disturbance had left a lot of moisture in the atmosphere. Cold northwesterly winds and high relative humidity is causing dense fog in the morning hours.

In Haryana’s Narnaul the maximum temperature on Wednesday was 14 degree C, 7 degree C below normal, Rajasthan’s Churu recorded a maximum temperature of 16.3 degree C, 8 degrees below normal and Punjab’s Bhatinda also recorded a maximum of 8.9 degree C, 12 degrees below normal on Wednesday due to the impact of a cold spell on the entire region.