The onslaught of a cold wave, sending shivers down Jharkhand’s spine since December 22, will continue for the next 48 hours, making it the longest spell in eight years.
The IMD’s Ranchi centre was forced to extend the cold wave warning on Sunday, as the minimum temperatures in several places stayed five degrees below normal. In isolated pockets, including Kanke on the outskirts of Ranchi, steel city Bokaro and Darisai near Ghatshila in East Singhbhum, the mercury dived six to seven notches below normal.
“It has been nine days of cold spell and counting. We do not see any system to stop the free flow of the north-westerly wind. The cold wave will continue in Jharkhand for another 48 hours at least. This is the longest spell since 2010 (see box),” said R.S. Sharma, a weather scientist at Ranchi Meteorological Centre.
Kanke, which has earned the sobriquet “freezer of Jharkhand”, topped the Sunday chill chart with a bone-numbing 2.9°C, six notches below normal. Several other parts of the state, including Ranchi, Daltonganj and Bokaro where the mercury plummeted to 4.6°C, recorded their season’s lowest minimum.
Ranchi’s reading was the lowest in four years. The capital had recorded an all-time low of 4°C on December 29, 2014. The temperature in Bokaro and Daltonganj hit a five-year low, with the Palamau headquarters recording 4.6°C for the second consecutive day.
Steel city Jamshedpur too experienced its season’s coldest day at 6.8 °C, four notches below normal. Darisai on Jharkhand-Bengal border recorded 4.4°C, seven degrees below normal. Chaibasa in West Singhbhum recorded 6.6°C, five notches below normal.
Night temperatures in Koderma, Hazaribagh, Deoghar, Latehar and Simdega districts and the Santhal Pargana region remained four to five degrees below the average normal, forcing residents to stay indoors or huddle around bonfires.
Met records suggest that last year, cold wave conditions had eluded the state in December, a peak winter month. Though sub-10 chill prevailed in more than two occasions, there was no warnings required.
In 2016, cold wave alert had been issued in Ranchi, Daltonganj and a few other places between December 22 and 25. Similarly, in 2015, the cold wave had lasted in Ranchi and adjoining districts for merely 24 hours on December 21.
One of the severest Decembers in recent times was in 2014, when several districts were in the grip of a cold wave, but the condition lasted for 72 hours tops from December 28.
Besides extending the cold wave alert for Jharkhand, the IMD centre in Patna predicted ground frost (formed on top soil) in isolated pockets of central and northern districts in the next 24 hours.