Christmas cheer spreads across Telangana Region

Hyderabad: Telangana is in the tight grip of falling temperatures with the minimum in Adilabad dipping to a bone-chilling 3.8 degrees Celsius on Tuesday morning, trumping the previous record of 3.9 degrees Celsius on December 20, 2014.

Bhadrachalam too recorded a chilling 12.2 degrees Celsius — the coldest the area has seen in the last 10 years. Previously, it recorded 12.5 degrees Celsius on December 22 in 2010. In Medak, the temperature fell to 8.3 degrees Celsius, making it the second district in the State where the temperatures dipped to single digit. But, the all-time record for Medak was 6.9 degrees Celsius on December 11, 1981.

Meteorologists attributed the dip in temperatures to the cold winds blowing from the feet of the Himalayas. “Over the past two days, there has been torrential flow of cold winds from the Himalayas towards the southern tip of the peninsula. These winds circumvented parts of Central India and are affecting coastal Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Telangana,” chief meteorologist at Skymet (a private weather forecasting unit) Mahesh Palawat told Telangana Today.

Experts from India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Hyderabad office said the temperatures would continue to remain low for the next 48 hours. “Currently, the State is experiencing cold conditions and it would continue for the next two days. People should be ready to brave the cold,” Dr K Naga Ratna, head of forecasting, IMD Hyderabad, said. The weather in the State has not dipped so much in the recent past, she added.

City forecast
Hyderabad will continue to reel under cold conditions for the next 48 hours, say meteorologists. On Tuesday, the city registered a chilling minimum of 12.5 degrees, which officials said was the coldest this year. “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,” said Dr Ratna.