As people across India prepare to celebrate Makar Sankranti, the festival will arrive amid persistent cold wave conditions and widespread fog across large parts of northern India, even as meteorologists indicate that winter’s tight grip may begin to loosen gradually after midweek.
Traditionally, Makar Sankranti marks the Sun’s northward movement and is associated with the waning of peak winter. This year, however, the seasonal transition is expected to be slow and subtle. Weather experts say that while temperatures may start inching upward after the next couple of nights, cold conditions and reduced visibility due to fog will continue to dominate mornings across the Indo-Gangetic plains.
“There will be no major change in overall weather conditions on January 14. Fog, lingering cold wave conditions and limited cloud activity will remain the key factors influencing the day,” said Devendra Tripathi, founder of Mausam Tak and weather vlogger associated with Kisan Tak.
In the higher reaches of North India, including parts of the Western Himalayas, patchy cloud cover is expected on Makar Sankranti and during the night. However, no significant snowfall is forecast for the festival day itself. A fresh western disturbance is likely to arrive on January 15, setting off a series of such systems that may bring substantial snowfall to higher altitudes between January 15 and January 30.
Across the plains of northern India, fog is expected to be the dominant weather feature during the early hours. Moderate to dense fog is likely at several locations in Punjab and northern Haryana, particularly across areas stretching from Karnal and Ambala to Panchkula and Chandigarh. Similar conditions are forecast in parts of northern Rajasthan and north-western Uttar Pradesh, including Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Pilibhit, Moradabad, Rampur, Saharanpur, Najibabad, Gautam Budh Nagar and Bulandshahr. Visibility is expected to improve gradually, with fog clearing by late morning around 10 to 11 am.
Major cities such as Delhi, Jaipur, Bhopal, Lucknow, Patna and Ranchi are unlikely to witness very dense fog, though shallow fog may develop briefly during the early morning hours. Localised fog is also possible in pockets around Gwalior, Bharatpur and Agra.
Large parts of North India have been reeling under intense cold over the past several days, with minimum temperatures remaining well below normal in many areas. North-westerly winds are expected to continue across northern, central and eastern India, including Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar. These winds will maintain biting cold conditions during the night and early morning hours, even as sunshine during the day brings some temporary relief.
In southern India, light rainfall is forecast along the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu, while very light showers are possible over coastal Kerala, coastal Karnataka, south-central Maharashtra and parts of coastal Maharashtra. Elsewhere in the southern and peninsular regions, no major weather changes are expected.
While Makar Sankranti will be celebrated with winter still firmly present, meteorologists say a gradual rise in temperatures after midweek suggests that the harshest phase of the cold wave may soon begin to ease. However, fog is likely to remain a recurring feature of winter mornings across northern India in the days ahead.