PUNE: Night temperatures in Pune are unlikely to fall significantly at least till February 10 due to a change in the wind regime from Saturday caused by the arrival of consecutive western disturbances in the Western Himalayan region.
Major parts of the city have seen a rise in minimum temperatures in the last few days, going from single digit to double digits, recently.
Shivajinagar recorded a minimum temperature of 13.1°C on early Friday morning, Pashan and Lohegaon recorded 14.1°C and 14.7°C, respectively, while Chinchwad, Lavale and Magarpatta recorded much higher night temperatures at 17.6°C, 16.1°C and 17.7°C, respectively.
Anupam Kashyapi, head of weather forecasting division at IMD Pune, told TOI, “There might be a fall in minimum temperature in Pune in the current 24 hours, but afterwards minimums will largely range between 13-15°C in Shivajinagar till February 9, falling to around 11°C on February 10. Minimums in other stations in Pune might go slightly higher than those recorded in Shivajinagar.”
“North Central Maharashtra may experience northerly winds up to Saturday, which will cause a drop in minimums. But this regime may change due to the approaching western disturbance. Pune might see mainly clear sky to time to time partly cloudy sky towards afternoon/evening during the next few days as the change in wind regime will cause moisture incursion,” Kashyapi added.
The wind regime may change to easterly/south-easterly from Saturday, meaning that these winds will come from the Bay of Bengal and bring in moisture into the district. “As the former (easterly/south-easterly) may cause some clouding, minimums are expected to be higher than the single digits we saw a few days ago. Cloudy skies prevent the direct escape of long-wave radiation emitted from the earth’s surface into the atmosphere during the night, trapping it (radiation) in atmosphere closer to the ground — usually resulting in rise in night temperatures,” Kashyapi added.
