Ludhiana, known for its bone-chilling winters, experienced the coldest January 4th since 1970, marking a historic low in maximum temperature. On Thursday, the city faced a maximum temperature of 9.4°C and a minimum of 5.6°C, nearly 8 degrees below the normal average for the first week of January, which is 17.4°C.
Commuters navigated through a thick blanket of fog in Ludhiana, intensifying the already harsh winter conditions. The city has witnessed almost zero sunshine hours in the past four days, deviating significantly from the typical weekly mean of 5.4 hours of sunshine in the first week of January.
The last time Ludhiana experienced such low maximum temperatures on January 4 was in the year 2000, recording a reading of 10.4°C.
Meteorological experts predict no respite for at least the next three days, forecasting dense to very dense fog accompanied by cold wave conditions. An orange alert has been issued until January 6 by PK Kingra, the head of the climate change and agriculture meteorological department at Punjab Agriculture University, stating, “Dense to very dense fog is likely over the next three to four days. Cold day to severe cold day conditions/cold wave conditions are also expected.”
