Winter To Be Warmer This Season, Predicts IMD

Bhubaneswar: December is knocking at the door, but winter chill is still missing in Odisha. Not only Odisha, several other states across the country will experience warmer winter this year, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

There is a higher probability of above-normal minimum temperature during the winter season, as per IMD’s latest seasonal outlook for December to February.

In its winter forecast released on Friday, the IMD said, "DJF (December, January, February) season average minimum temperatures are likely to be warmer than average over most parts of the country except over northernmost parts of India."

The seasonal average minimum temperature will remain above normal by over one degree Celsius, IMD said in a statement while ruling out the possibility of any severe cold wave spells over the core cold wave zone (CWZ) during the next three months.

The core cold wave zone covers Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana, and meteorological subdivisions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, Marathawada, Vidharbha, Saurashtra (Gujarat) and central Maharashtra.

M Rajeevan, the Secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences, said the warmer winters are due to global warming.

The IMD forecast said minimum temperatures over most parts of central and peninsular India are likely to be warmer than normal by less than one per cent.

The season averaged mean temperatures are likely to be warmer than normal by 0.50 degree Celsius over peninsular India and some part of east and central India, it said.

However, the season average maximum temperatures are likely to be colder than normal over some part of central Indian region and warmer than normal over few subdivisions in the peninsular region.

(With PTI inputs)