The winter chill has intensified in Jharkhand with several of its districts including Bokaro, Dumka, Pakur, and neighbouring West Singhbhum on Sunday recording the season’s lowest minimum temperature reading, with the strong north-westerly winds making a comeback.

Sunday’s meteorological department data has suggested that almost all 24 districts witnessed sub-10 chill, with moderate cold wave gripping several isolated pockets.

Bokaro recorded the season’s lowest minimum reading on Sunday with the mercury plummeting six notches below the normal temperature to 6.2 °C.

Several other districts in central Jharkhand including Ramgarh recorded similar temperature readings on Sunday, thereby, making it the coldest day of the season.

Dumka and Pakur also experienced the coldest day on Sunday with the local IMD observatories in both places recording around 8 °C.

Meanwhile, Chaibasa in neighbouring West Singhbhum too recorded its lowest night reading with the mercury dropping to 8.8 °C on Sunday.

While Jamshedpur witnessed a two-degree fall in minimum reading during the last 24 hours, the local IMD observatory in steel city on Sunday recorded a minimum temperature of 9.9 °C.

In Ranchi, the temperature fell to 7.4°C, which was three points below the average normal, while Kanke, located in the outskirts of the state capital experienced a bone-numbing cold at 6.6°C.

Daltonganj and several other districts in north-western Jharkhand on Sunday recorded a minimum temperature reading of 7.5 °C.

“The dominating north-westerly wind is causing the night temperature to plummet. A sub-10 chill was prevailing in all the districts of Jharkhand,” said Abhishek Anand, deputy director of Ranchi Meteorological Centre.

However, he maintained that there wouldn’t be much fluctuation in the minimum temperature reading in the next 48 hours.

With the dip in temperature, the early morning fog was also witnessed at several places across Jharkhand on Sunday, including Jamshedpur.

Both IMD Ranchi and Patna Meteorological Centre have issued an alert on Sunday, regarding several districts experiencing shallow to moderate fog and mist in the morning for the next two days. According to their forecast, dry weather conditions will prevail over Jharkhand for the next five days.