Title - Sharp rise in mercury, Jaipurites experience warmest morning of Jan so far

JAIPUR: The mercury continued with its upward swing providing respite from the shivering cold conditions across the state on Saturday. Sriganganagar remained the coldest in the plains at 4.8°C and Mount Abu in the hills with 6°C.The Jaipur Met office said a rise up to 5 degrees Celsius in day and night temperatures was recorded in the state.Attributing the continued increase in temperatures to the active western disturbances and vanishing of northerly winds, the Met office said the mercury will continue to take an upward swing across the state in the next couple of days.Jaipurities woke up to the warmest morning of January so far as the city experienced a minimum temperature of 11.4° Celsius, almost two degrees above normal. In the afternoon, the city witnessed a maximum temperature of 28.4° Celsius. A humidity level up to 87% gave some relief from the shivering cold conditions. The absence of fog and mist in the morning made the air, road and rail traffic smooth across the state. No major flight diversions were reported at the Jaipur airport. Trains which were coming late at the Jaipur railway station earlier due to the fog in Delhi and Haryana also arrived on time.The Met office, however, said from Monday onwards the mercury would take a dip as western disturbances would disappear and northerly winds would be revived. "The climatic pattern has suggested that from Monday onwards the mercury is expected to take a dip as northerly winds are expected to get a revival. By Wednesday next week, the minimum temperatures are expected to be on or below 6° Celsius at many places in the state," an official with the Jaipur Met office said.

Mininum temeperature in other areas are Churu (6.8°C) Pilani and Udaipur (9°C each), Jodhpur 10.3°C, Ajmer 12°C, Jaisalmer 13.3°C, Kota 13.8°C, Barmer 14.3°C and Bikaner recorded a minimum temperature of 14.4 degrees Celsius.