Hyderabad and Telangana continue to be under the grip of a cold wave, as the city's residents witnessed the coldest day this season with the temperature dipping to 12.5 degree Celsius.
"Dry weather very likely to prevail over Telangana. Minimum temperatures likely to be below normal by 3 to 4 degree Celsius at isolated places over Telangana," the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement.
"A low pressure area is likely to develop over south Andaman sea and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal, around December 25," the IMD added.
IMD officials attributed the sudden drop to a change in wind pattern, and said that the state was receiving sea winds from north/northeasterly direction, which are generally cold and dry, Deccan Chronicle reported.
While Hyderabad recorded a temperature of 10.9 degrees on December 22 last year, the all-time lowest was 7.1 degrees on December 14, 1966, the DC report adds.
“While districts in the northern part of the state will be colder, those in the southern part may not experience colder conditions,” YK Reddy, incharge director of IMD, Hyderabad, told ToI.
The ToI report adds that Adilabad experienced its coldest day ever, at 3.8 degree Celsius on Tuesday, breaking its earlier record of 3.9 degree Celsius recorded in 2014.
The Telangana State Development Planning Society (TSDPS) also released a map, which suggested that the temperature in parts of the state could even drop below 5 degree Celsius.
“Currently, the State is experiencing cold conditions and it would continue for the next two days. People should be ready to brave the cold. The temperature in the city on Tuesday is record-breaking as it is the coldest this year. For the next 48-72 hours the temperatures would continue to drop,” Dr K Naga Ratna, head of forecasting, IMD Hyderabad, told Telangana Today.