No cold wave in Gujarat this winter

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat has experienced an unusually warm winter so far with the state not witnessing a single cold wave this winter, as per India Meteorological Department (IMD) data.

While there were a few instances of cold day phenomenon this winter, it is a departure from normal as generally Kutch and Saurashtra regions have witnessed one or two cold wave instances annually for the past few years.
On Tuesday, the lowest minimum temperature across Gujarat was 13.8°C in Amreli, whereas the highest maximum temperature was 34.5°C in Rajkot. No wonder, in many offices, central ACs were switched on, a rarity for the winter month of Jan. It was not just Tuesday, but Jan as a whole the state experienced warmer than normal maximum and minimum temperatures.
Ashok Kumar Das, director of IMD Gujarat, confirmed that from Nov to Jan so far this winter, the state did not record any cold wave.
‘Only Naliya consistently saw minimum temp under 10°C’
According to IMD parameters, coldwave conditions in the plains area are reported when the minimum temperature is 10 degrees celsius or less and it is 4.5 degrees to 6.4 degrees lower than normal minimum temperature. If it is more than 6.4 degrees departure, it is identified as a severe coldwave.
Senior Met department experts said that Jan this year and winter as a whole experienced multiple occurrences of Western Disturbance. Gujarat conventionally experiences low temperatures in winter months with wind direction being northerly to northwesterly, bringing in cold winds from the Himalayas. However, the Western Disturbance disrupted the pattern causing warmer than normal temperatures for the state.
“When the impact of Western Disturbance was experienced from Punjab to Rajasthan, it changed the wind direction. Thus, this time it was a relatively shorter spell of colder days for the state. In fact, an early projection by IMD for Jan had indicated higher than normal temperatures for several regions including Gujarat,” said an official.
Analysis of the temperature figures showed that only Naliya in Kutch recorded consistently minimum temperatures below 10 degrees over the past two months with the lowest temperature going around 6 degrees in Dec. In Jan so far, the minimum temperature at Naliya hovered around 8-10 degrees. Other towns and cities that recorded minimum temperature below 10 degrees at least twice and thus recording cold day phenomenon in the past two months included Rajkot, Keshod, Deesa and Amreli.
In Ahmedabad city, the minimum temperature went up to 17.5 degrees celsius on Jan 19, which was 5.6 degrees higher than normal.
But overall, the minimum temperatures were 1.4 degrees and 2.2 degrees higher than normal in December and Jan respectively for the city.