The Chandigarh-Mohali-Panchkula tricity region witnessed a marked chill on Wednesday as day temperatures dipped sharply, accompanied by the season’s first spell of shallow to medium fog during morning and evening hours that reduced visibility and added a wintry bite to the air. Partly cloudy to clear skies prevailed through the day.
Panchkula recorded the lowest maximum temperature in the tricity at 18°C, a steep 6.5-degree Celsius drop from the previous day, marking the sharpest fall in the region.
Chandigarh’s IAF airport observatory logged the second lowest day temperature at 19.1°C, down by 5.1 degrees, while the Chandigarh city observatory recorded a higher maximum of 23°C, still reflecting a cooling trend.
Night temperatures, however, showed a slight rise across the region. Chandigarh city recorded a minimum of 8.3°C, while the IAF airport station logged 8.5°C. Panchkula’s minimum stood at 8°C, indicating relatively milder nights despite the pronounced daytime cooling.
Within the broader region, minimum temperatures ranged from about 5.6°C at Narnaul to 11-12°C at some locations, while maximum temperatures varied between 18°C and around 27°C, with Anandpur Sahib in Punjab emerging as one of the warmer spots.
In comparison, nearby hill station Shimla continued to remain significantly colder, underlining the growing contrast between plains and hills as winter conditions strengthen.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) reported high relative humidity, which peaked at 95% in Chandigarh during the morning hours and dropped to around 53% by afternoon, creating ideal conditions for fog formation. Dense to very dense fog was observed at isolated places in Punjab and dense fog at isolated places in Haryana over the past 24 hours.
The IMD has forecast dense to very dense fog at a few places over the tricity for the next two days, followed by dense fog at isolated places on Saturday. Skies are expected to remain partly cloudy to mainly clear, with maximum temperatures hovering around 21-22°C and minimum temperatures between 8°C and 9°C over the next couple of days.
With fog likely to persist, residents have been advised to exercise caution during early morning and late evening travel as visibility may drop sharply, while the overall chill is expected to linger despite slightly warmer nights.
