Schoolgirls dare the early morning fog in Patna on Wednesday. The Sun came out around 10am, providing some relief to residents. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Fog would continue to disrupt life in the city for a few more days, said weathermen. But the long haze spells would die out soon.

Residents of Patna woke up to a thick fog cover on Wednesday morning. Though the mist was short-lived, weathermen claimed that such weather conditions would continue till the minimum temperature rises above 10°C. This is likely to occur in or after the first week of February.

“The fog cover on Wednesday developed because of the temperature remaining below 10°C in the night and low-speed wind. The easterly winds are causing the dip in the minimum temperature. The fog cover would continue to prevail in the lower level of the atmosphere for three to four hours in the morning till the minimum temperature goes above 10°C. However, the thickness of the fog cover would depend on the wind speed. The lower the wind speed, the thicker would be the fog cover,” said Ashish Sen, the director of India Meteorological Department, Patna.

The minimum temperature on Wednesday stood at 6.9°C, three notches below normal. The maximum was recorded at 23.4°C, which was one degree below normal.

For Boring Road resident Priyanka Upadhyay, the weather drastically changed overnight.

“There was hardly any fog on Tuesday. I thought that the extreme cold weather was on its way out. But I was disappointed when I peeped outside my window on Wednesday morning. The streets were wrapped in fog,” said Upadhyay. The Sun, however, came out around 10am, giving residents respite for the rest of the day. The Met department has forecast that the minimum temperature would hover around 7°C and the maximum would be around 24°C till this weekend.

The Met department claimed that Bihar would narrowly escape a western disturbance hovering over Uttarakhand at present. In case, the disturbance had hit Bihar, it would have led to formation of clouds in the medium level of the atmosphere. This would have led to day cold conditions in the weekend.

“Day cold condition would have been felt during the weekend if the western disturbance prevailing over Uttarakhand had reached Bihar. However, according to the evening observation, Bihar is expected to remain untouched by it,” Sen added.