The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the upcoming winter season from December to February is likely to be warmer in most parts of the country.
"The upcoming winter season (December to February) is likely to experience warmer than average minimum temperatures over most parts of the country except over northern most parts of India, thus indicating a warmer winter season over the country," the IMD said in a statement.
Showing the sub-divisional forecasts for averaged maximum, minimum and mean temperature anomalies (departures from the long-term normal) respectively for December 2019 to February, it said that the forecast indicates that winter season averaged minimum temperatures are likely to be warmer than average over most parts of the country except over northernmost parts of India.
The weather agency said that the minimum temperatures over most parts of central and peninsular India are likely to be warmer than normal by >= 1 degree Celsius.While the season averaged mean temperatures are likely to be warmer than normal by 0.50 degree Celsius over most subdivisions of peninsular India and some subdivisions of east and central India, the season averaged maximum temperatures are likely to be colder than normal over some part of central Indian region and warmer than normal over few subdivisions in the peninsular region.
"There is a relatively higher probability for above normal minimum temperatures in the core Cold Wave (CW) zone during December 2019to February 2020. The Core CW zone covers states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa and Telangana and met subdivisions of Jammu, Kashmir & Ladakh, Marathawada, Vidharbha, Saurashtra and Madhya Maharashtra," the IMD said.
Stressing on the ENSO (El Nino-Southern Oscillation) conditions in the Pacific Ocean, it said: "Currently, warm ENSO-neutral conditions are prevailing over the equatorial Pacific Ocean and the latest MMCFS forecast indicates these conditions are likely to cool and turn to ENSO-neutral conditions during the forthcoming winter season."
( With inputs from ANI )