Patna: The city experienced day cold conditions for the second time this winter on Sunday, forcing many to change plans for the year's last day.

And if New Year's Eve was cold, New Year's Day also promises to be the same. In its forecast for Monday, the local Met office said day cold condition and dense fog would prevail in the city.

Day cold condition is said to prevail when the minimum temperature remains below 10° Celsius and the maximum temperature is at least 4.5°C less than the normal maximum for the day. On Sunday - the second day cold since Friday - Patna recorded a maximum temperature of 16.1°C, which was 6°C below normal, and a minimum of 8.7°C.

Boring Canal Road resident Richa Singh, mother of a three-year-old daughter, said: "I had planned to visit the zoo on New Year's Day but the severe cold condition has forced us to change the plan. It does not seem wise to go out with a small child in such weather."

The maximum temperature on Monday is likely to hover around 17°C, five notches below the normal maximum temperature, fitting the bill for day cold conditions.

Dense fog, said Met office scientist Anand Shankar, is not allowing sunrays to penetrate, leading to the day cold conditions.

A very dense fog cover had enveloped the city from Saturday night, and although the sun was visible in the afternoon it was not enough to beat the cold.

"Most parts of the state, except few south Bihar areas, will experience dense to very dense fog cover right from midnight till Monday noon," Shankar said. Fog cover is termed as very dense when the visibility is below 50m and dense if visibility is between 50 and 500m.

The dense to very dense fog cover has developed because of the high level of relative humidity along with the drop in temperature, Shankar said. The relative humidity in Patna remained in the nineties on Sunday.

He added that residents could expect some relief from the foggy conditions from Tuesday when the fog cover is likely to be dense to moderate (visibility in the range of 600 to 800m).

Shankar said that northwestern wind was likely to set in from Monday onwards helping dissipate the fog cover. "But mornings would still be foggy," he added.

The wind speed is likely to remain between 5 and 10kmph from Monday. The maximum temperature level in the coming three days would be in the range of 17 to 20 degrees Celsius and the minimum temperature between 8 and 10°C.