The nippy northerly wind made an unexpected U-turn, resulting in a drop in minimum readings below 10°C at several places in Jharkhand, a phenomenon which weathermen said on Tuesday is expected to stay for the next two days at least.

Minimum temperatures in several parts of Jharkhand nosedived three to four degrees in the last 48 hours.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) observatory in Jamshedpur on Tuesday recorded a minimum temperature of 10.4°C, two notches below normal. On Sunday, the minimum in the steel city was 15.2°C. Similarly, Ranchi went numb at 7.4°C, three notches below normal, on Tuesday while two days ago the IMD observatory there had recorded a minimum temperature of 13.2°C.

Kanke on the outskirts of the state capital on Tuesday notched a minimum of 7°C. Tuesday’s minimum in Bokaro was 8.1°C, four points below normal and up from Sunday’s 15.1°C.

In Daltonganj too, the minimum witnessed a drop. The IMD centre at the Palamau district headquarters recorded a minimum of 8.5°C, a six-degree fall over 48 hours.

Night readings plunged in several other districts, including Koderma, Deoghar, Hazaribagh, Seraikela-Kharsawan, West Singhbhum, Khunti, Ramgarh, Simdega, Dumka, and the Santhal Pargana region.

Weathermen attributed the plummeting minimum temperatures to the dominating dry north-westerly winds and low humidity levels, both during the day and the night.

“The flow of dry north wind has been restored and this was preventing moisture incursion into the atmosphere. The chill is here to stay for another two to three days,” said Abhishek Anand, a senior Met official at the IMD’s Ranchi centre.

An approaching western disturbance lies over northeast Afghanistan, he added. “The fresh western disturbance is likely to affect the western Himalayan region from January 24 onwards. This might impact Jharkhand's weather condition between January 26 and 27,” Anand said.

The Met department also issued an alert of shallow to moderate fog in the next 48 hours.

Bistupur, Jamshedpur resident Anjani Kumar, who works at a private firm, said he had to put woollen clothes in layers on Tuesday morning .

“The chill was intense when I went for a morning walk,” he said.