Tourists enjoy in the snow at south portal of Atal Tunnel in Himachal’s Rohtang. In the past 24 hours, minimum night temperatures were below 0°C at some places in the state and Jammu and Kashmir

NEW DELHI: Cold wave to severe cold wave conditions are very likely to continue in Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand for two more days (Jan 12-13), IMD said Sunday.

The forecast and prevailing conditions in north India are in sync with the Met department's earlier prediction about this winter witnessing four-five additional cold wave days, reports Vishwa Mohan. On Sunday, Pilani (east Rajasthan) was the coldest spot in the northern plains at 1.2 degrees C. IMD said cold wave conditions may continue in "isolated pockets" of north and northwest India on Jan 14 (Wednesday) and ease thereafter.

It predicted "cold day" in isolated parts of Bihar till Jan 16. Dense fog is very likely to continue during morning hours over northwest India and Bihar for the next five days, it added.North, N-W India to see more coldwave days than normalD ense fog continuing during morning hours over the next few days means cold wave and foggy morning conditions may coincide with both Lohri and Makar Sankranti celebrations in most parts of north and northwest India, and parts of east India.

The states in north and northwest India normally get four to six coldwave days from Dec to Feb, but this time the region is expected to get a total of eight to 11 such days, with the maximum number being reported in Jan.

A coldwave is declared when the minimum (night) temperature of a meteorological station is 4°C or less in the plains and 0°C or less in hilly regions. Coldwave conditions can also be declared if temperatures are less than 10°C and below normal by at least 4.5°C.

Releasing a forecast of minimum (night) temperatures, IMD said “no significant change” is likely over northwest India in the next three days, with a gradual rise of 2–3°C in the subsequent four days.

However, it said, there may be gradual rise in minimum temperature of 2–3°C in Maharashtra over the next two days. There may not be significant change over the subsequent five days. During the past 24 hours (till 8.30am on Sunday), minimum (night) temperatures were below 0°C at many places in J&K, Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, a few places in Himachal Pradesh, and at isolated places in Uttarakhand.

Minimum temperatures of 1–5°C were recorded at a few places in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and north Rajasthan, IMD said.

On the other hand, minimum temperatures of 5–10°C were recorded at many places in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh; a few places in Odisha, Bihar, east Rajasthan and Gujarat; and at isolated places in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya and Maharashtra. Minimum temperatures were 3–6°C “below normal” over northwest India (south Punjab, south Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan), northwest Telangana and adjoining Maharashtra on Sunday. Over the rest of the country, they were “near normal” during past 24 hours.