The India Meteorological Department on Thursday issued an 'orange alert' for moderate to dense fog in six divisions and 15 districts in Madhya Pradesh. The IMD also said two districts in the state experienced cold wave during the day, while four districts witnessed 'severe cold' and 12 districts, including capital Bhopal and commercial hub Indore, seeing 'cold day'.
"Datia and Chhatarpur saw a cold wave, while Dhar, Khandwa, Chhindwara and Datia experienced severe cold day on Thursday. Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Chhatarpur, Narisinghpur, Seoni, Umaria, Rewa, Ujjain and Ratlam had a cold day," IMD Bhopal duty officer HS Pandey told PTI. Explaining further, he said 'cold day' is one when the minimum temperature drops to 10 degrees Celsius or below and the normal maximum temperature dips by 4.5 degrees Celsius or below.
"A severe cold day is when the normal maximum temperature drops by 6.5 degrees Celsius or below," he added. The spell of cold in the state since Sunday is likely to weaken after three days since there was cloud cover in some parts, and Chhindware and Balaghat's Waraseoni and Malajkhand reporting light showers on Thursday, he said.
"The chill underway at present is due to northerly winds blowing in MP after snowfall in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir. The orange alert issued is for fog likely to engulf Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Chambal, Rewa and Sagar divisions on Friday morning," the official said.
He said such foggy weather is expected to prevail over Indore, Jabalpur, Anuppur, Katni, Narsinghpur, Seoni, Mandla, Balaghat, Neemuch, Khandwa, Jhabua, Dhar, Ratlam and Burhanpur districts till Friday morning. Cold waves are expected tin Gwalior, Chhatarpur and Datia, with the last two districts also likely to have frost conditions, he said. The lowest minimum temperature in Madhya Pradesh of 2.8 degrees Celsius was recorded at Nowgaon in Chhatarpur district, the IMD said.
