Telangana continued to reel under the grip of a cold wave on Sunday as the minimum temperature in many areas in the northern parts of the state fell below 5 degree Celsius. According to data released by the Telangana State Development Planning Society (TSDPS) and Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Arli hamlet in Adilabad district's Bheempoor mandal saw the temperature drop to 2.7 degree Celsius.
This was followed by areas like Ginnedari and Sirupur in Komaram Bheem Asifabad district, which saw the minimum temperature drop to 3.1 and 3.2 degree Celsius respectively.
Bela in Adilabad district witnessed the temperature drop to 3.4 degree Celsius while the headquarters of the district saw a minimum temperature of 3.7 degree Celsius. Bhiknoor in Kamareddy district witnessed a minimum temperature of 3.4 degree Celsius.
Closer to Hyderabad, Algole in Sangareddy district's Zaheerabad mandal saw the temperature drop to 4.1 degree Celsius. In areas like Hanamkonda, the minimum temperature was 10 degree Celsius on Sunday, a deviation of -6 degree Celsius from the normal temperature during this time of the year.
The IMD issued a cold wave alert for Monday as well. "Cold wave conditions very likely to prevail at isolated places in the districts of Adilabad, Nirmal, Komaram Bheem Asifabad, Mancherial, Jagtial, Rajanna Sircilla, Karimnagar, Warangal (Urban and Rural), Medak, Siddipet and Kamareddy," the IMD warning stated. The warning will be in place till 8.30 am on January 2, authorities said.
Earlier this week, Hyderabad witnessed its coldest day in eight years as the minimum temperature in the city on Saturday fell to 9.9 degree Celsius. In 2010, Hyderabad witnessed a low of 8.9 degree Celsius. The TSDPS had said that the night temperature in BHEL, which is in the outskirts of the city, dropped to 6.6 degree Celsius on Friday night.
The prevailing weather condition has been attributed to northern winds with the IMD saying that a dry weather would prevail across the state.