Kathmandu, December 25

With the temperature steadily falling, Kathmandu Valley has been witnessing misty mornings since the last few days.

According to Meteorological Forecasting Division, since the first week of December the minimum temperature in the Valley has been falling steadily.

Meteorologist at the Division, Samir Shrestha, said with the minimum temperature steadily falling, mist has begun to form in Valley since the last few days. He said visibility inside Kathmandu Valley has been reduced in the mornings due to the mist.

“From 7:00am to 7:30am today the visibility at Tribhuvan International Airport was just 100 metres, but as it cleared up within half-an-hour no major impact on aviation was recorded.” Meteorologist Shrestha told The Himalayan Times, “Visibility has been going down at the airport  every day for up to one-and-a-half hour after the airport opens. He said the average visibility at TIA last week was from 1,000 to 2,000 metres.

MFD said that mist would cover the Valley through December and with the beginning of January fog will be formed and this weather condition will last till February.

According to MFD data of December 6, the minimum temperature of Kathmandu Valley was 9.5 Degree Celsius and today’s temperature was 4.8 Degrees. Due to drastic change in weather, the lowest temperature was recorded on December 16 at 2.8 Degrees Celsius.

With the mercury dropping, the average minimum temperature of Kathmandu in December was 3.7 Degree Celsius. The denizens of Kathmandu Valley and its vicinity have been facing freezing cold since the last few days.

It is said there is no chance of rainfall or any major weather system developing for the next three days.

MFD has forecast continuous fall in temperature in Kathmandu Valley and other hilly regions in the days to come and dense fog in the western Tarai range areas as well as snowfall in high mountainous areas.

Meteorologist Shrestha said since the dense fog in the western Tarai lasts for only up to 10:00am from midnight it was wrong to term it ‘cold wave’. “For cold wave, dense fog must cover the area for at least 48 hours continuously, but this situation does not prevail in the Tarai region as fog has been clearing around 9:00am to 10:00am every day,” he added.

Meanwhile, though normal rainfall for the month of December is 13.2 mm, so far, just 0.1 mm rainfall has been recorded in the Valley. Similarly, in the place of normal rain of 8.3 mm in November, the last month remained completely dry with no rain at all.

According to Consensus Statement on the Forecast Outlook for winter season (December 2017 — February 2018), precipitation and temperatures over South Asia was below normal. Precipitation is likely during winter season over some areas of the northeastern part of South Asia, including Nepal.