Strange Weather In Mumbai

Extremely low temperature in the city are the latest indicator of Climatic Fluctuation in Mumbai. While Mumbai had a minimum of 14.2 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, this dipped to 8.8 degrees on Thursday.

Cold Wave in Europe, which has killed many people there, may be leading to extreme winter conditions in India, say experts.

Ajit Tyagi, director general of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Delhi, said the weather fluctuations may have no particular reason, but the cold in India can be broadly attributed to the exceptional cold in Europe.

"The land masses in the middle and upper latitudes across the globe are being affected because of the cold in Eu rope. Each region, however, fol lows its own patterns and thus cannot be directly related to a phenomenon," he said.

Some experts also hold La Nina responsible. La Nina can cause western disturbances, and one of these recently caused snow and rain in north India. La Nina causes the sea surface temperature in parts of the Pacific Ocean to be lower than normal.

An IMD report recently showed a likely link between La Nina and the exceptionally low temperatures in northern India, even as experts said the northern regions have been affected by western disturbances more frequently this year.

Temperatures across India plummeted rapidly in the second week of January. Since then, the western Himalayas have witnessed heavy snow and the northern plains have remained chilly. Central India and parts of south India have had record-breaking cold spells. "The La Nina effect may have caused a situation for global temperatures to plummet ," said Kumar.

But, Tyagi opposed the idea. "La Nina brings down oceanic temperatures. It has not been directly linked to low land temperatures . But, the phenomenon, along with cold winds from Europe and global warming, may be responsible for the extreme chilly," he said, adding that IMD had predicted that winter would be colder than normal this year.