Delhi under grip of cold; no hope for relief tomorrow

Delhi today remained under a spell of shivering cold with low temperatures coupled with icy winds making life difficult for the people.

This morning was not much better than yesterday's when the capital witnessed its coldest day of the season so far.

The minimum temperature overnight was recorded at 8.2 degrees Celsius which is a degree above normal and only marginally above yesterday's minimum of 7.8 degrees while the maximum was at 14.7 degrees, up by 0.1 degrees from the previous day.

An almost overcast sky during the morning hours prevented the sun from offering any solace to the people.

Not much is expected to improve over the next 24 hours. The Met Department said the minimum and maximum temperatures are likely to be around 7 degrees and 16 degrees C respectively.

"There could be mist or shallow fog in the morning," a senior MeT official said.

Last year, the month of January recorded the lowest minimum of 5.6 degrees Celsius in the first week of the year.

According to MeT statistics, the record for the highest maximum for the month of January was 32.5 degree Celsius recorded on the 28th of 2004. The record minimum is -0.6 degree Celsius recorded on 16th of the month in 1935.

In the last decade, only last year that the minimum did not drop below five degree Celsius. In 2006, the minimum dropped to 0.2 degrees on January eight while two years later, the lowest minimum was 1.9 degrees on 2nd of the month.

The mean minimum for the month of January is 7.3 degree Celsius while the mean maximum is 21.1 degrees.