Delhi witnesses coldest Christmas in five years

Delhiites woke up to the coldest Christmas in five years on Sunday as the mercury plunged to the season's lowest of 2.9 degrees Celsius, five degrees below normal.

"While today's minimum broke yesterday's record of 3.3 degrees Celsius, the maximum was recorded at 20.3 degrees Celsius, one degree below average," a met department official said.

Noting that the temperature may go down further with the winter chill here to stay for another couple of days, he said, the prediction for Monday suggests that minimum temperature could even touch 2 degrees Celsius and maximum would be around 21 degrees Celsius.

However, there was good news for air travellers as the weatherman predicted a clear sky with "shallow" fog in the morning without chances of rain.

The met department also said the maximum and the minimum humidity were recorded at 93 and 27 per cent respectively.

The coldest day of the season so far was December 24 when the minimum dropped to 3.3 degrees Celsius.

In December last year, the minimum had come down to 5.2 degrees Celsius on the 22nd of the month. In the past decade, the lowest minimum for the month was recorded on December 12, 2005 when the mercury recorded 3.3 degrees Celsius while the highest maximum was 28.4 degrees on December 15, 2003.

The record for the lowest minimum for the month of December is 1.1 degree Celsius recorded on the 26th of the month in 1945 and the highest maximum was 29.3 degrees on third of the month in 1987.