Coldest April in Shimla in a decade

SHIMLA: Even as there is concern about global warming, it has been the coldest April in over a decade, in this erstwhile summer capital of the British Raj, with both the average day and night temperatures being the lowest recorded since 2001. Though director of the meteorological office here Manmohan Singh said that there were still about 12 days to go before the month comes to an end, but taking into consideration the fact that the average day temperature has so far not gone up above 20 degree Celsius and the night temperature above 10 degree Celsius, it can be safely presumed that both the maximum and minimum average temperatures are likely to remain the lowest in the decade.
Asserting that both the average day and night temperatures were about three to four degrees Celsius below the average for this time of the year, he said that the lowest temperature recorded during the day this month was 7.5 degree Celsius, while the lowest night temperature was 4.49 degree Celsius, which are quite low. However, he said that both the day and night temperatures were likely to rise from Wednesday onwards. Singh said that the reason for the low temperatures this year was because of the fact that the western disturbances had been active in the region and as the temperatures started rising, squalls of rain in the lower and middle reaches of the hills and snow in the higher reaches brought down the temperatures considerably. “Besides there has also been moderate snowfall in the higher reaches of the state which has also helped in keeping the temperatures comparatively lower”, he added.
Singh said, the average day temperature for the month this year was 19.4 degree Celsius, while the average night temperature was 9.2 degree Celsius.
“Compared to this, the average day and night temperatures in April during different years have been: 2001 – 20.7 and 12.4 degree Celsius, 2002 – 22.2 and 13.7 degree Celsius, 2003 – 20.2 and 12.7 degree Celsius, 2004 – 23.6 C and 13.0 degree Celsius, 2005 – 21.5 and 11.9 degree Celsius, 2006 – 21.9 and 12.8 degree Celsius, 2007 – 23.7 and 14.1 degree Celsius, 2008 – 21.6 and 11.9 degree Celsius, 2009 – 22.5 and 11.4 degree Celsius and 2010 – 25.9 and 15.6 degree Celsius”, he informed. However, he said that the rains this April have been comparatively less as compared to the beginning of the first decade. “This April Shimla received just 31.2 millimetre of rain compared to 99.8 mm in 2002 and 95 mm in 2001.” He added, “There was just 5.5 mm of rain last April and 9.8 mm in April 2007 which were lean years as far as rain in the city was concerned.”