UP Weather Update:  Over the last three days, eastern Uttar Pradesh has experienced extreme cold due to a thick layer of fog caused by a tropical westerly jet stream in the upper atmosphere, making Varanasi the coldest city in the state.

Varanasi’s high temperature on Thursday fell by about 10 degrees Celsius below average, making it colder than well-known hill towns like Shimla, Shillong, and Manali. On that day, the city was one among the ten coldest locations in India.

UP Weather Forecast: IMD Predicts Three More Days of Severe Cold

For the next three days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued red and orange advisories for extreme chilly day conditions and thick to very dense fog in a number of districts.

Varanasi, Prayagraj, Mirzapur, Chandauli, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Mau, Ballia, Deoria, Kushinagar, and the neighboring districts are anticipated to continue experiencing very chilly days.

In the meanwhile, western areas such as Agra, Meerut, Mathura, Saharanpur, Aligarh, Kanpur, Fatehpur, Lucknow, Barabanki, and Gonda are expected to experience a severe cold wave.

The lowest temperature in six years in Uttar Pradesh
According to jagran.com, Atul Kumar Singh, a senior meteorologist at IMD Lucknow, said that Varanasi’s December high temperature had fallen to this level after six years. It was last colder on December 31, 2019, when temperatures dropped to 9.1 degrees Celsius.

He clarified that a day is considered “cold” if its highest temperature is 4.5–6.4 degrees Celsius below average and its minimum temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or below. A “severe cold day” occurs when the highest temperature falls to 6.5 degrees Celsius or lower than usual, which is precisely what happened in Varanasi on Thursday.