Bangalore shivers at 9ºC

A severe cold wave is sweeping across the state. Bangalore and most parts of south and north interior Karnataka are experiencing temperatures three to six degree Celsius below normal. While the normal minimum temperature during this time was 16 degree Celsius, Bangalore recorded a minimum of 13.2 degrees and a maximum of 28 on Thursday. HAL, BIAL and Yelahanka recorded a minimum of 9 degrees—six degrees below normal.

Mysore recorded its lowest December temperature in the last 117 years of 9.8 degree Celsius on Thursday.

Speaking to DNA, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) director B Puttanna said Mysore was experiencing this drop due to the cold wave conditions in the state. “Minimum temperature of 8.6 degrees was recorded on February 14, 2006, and 9.6 degree on November 17, 2007. But this is the lowest for this season in the past 117 years.”

While north interior Karnataka has been reeling under cold weather for the past week, it struck the south interior and Bangalore only on Wednesday.

Temperatures are likely to dip further in the coming days and can even reach 10 degrees by the month-end or early January, Puttanna said. Bangalore’s lowest temperature ever recorded was 7.8 degree Celsius in 1883. At the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), visibility dropped to new lows on Wednesday. In parts of Bangalore, visiblity was below 600 metres and it fell down to 50 metres at BIAL and HAL. It touched zero in Yelahanka.