Students brave the cold in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Dec. 20: The maximum temperature in the capital dipped to 12.3°C today, 12 degrees below normal, scripting history. A similar plunge in mercury column was recorded in 2003.

Animesh Chanda, the director of Patna Met department, said: “A similar departure in the highest temperature was observed in 2003. It was around 12°C, which was 12 degrees below normal. The minimum temperature in the city today was 8.3°C, two degrees below normal.”

“The maximum temperature in Patna is likely to hover around 14°C tomorrow, four to five degrees below normal. The minimum temperature would be around 8°C. There would be fog in the morning. However, there is no statewide cold wave alert for Wednesday,” Chanda added.

Cold wave condition prevails when the minimum temperature falls five notches below normal.

The biting cold wave, accompanied by dense fog, has disrupted academic activities in schools and colleges. The schools in the state have been closed on the direction of the state education department. The colleges are registering thin attendance.

Patna College today registered 40 per cent attendance. Randhir Kumar Singh, a teacher at Patna College, said: “Many colleges under Patna University are situated on the banks of the Ganga. Cold wave brings chill on the campus.”

A Patna College student said: “It is impossible to attend classes in this cold. The city has been shivering for the past one week. Under these circumstances, it is impossible to concentrate on studies in the class.”

A student of JD Women’s college, who had been attending her classes regularly beating the cold, said: “I know how I am attending my classes. Coming to the college under thick fog cover is very difficult.”

Cold wave

Samastipur, at 11.8°C, recorded its lowest day temperature in the past 50 years. It was 12 degrees below normal. With the minimum temperature falling to 5.3°C, the Met department today officially declared Chhapra reeling under cold wave condition.

Assistant professor of meteorology at Rajendra Agriculture University, Pusa, Abdul Sattar, said: “Extreme cold condition is being observed in the entire north Bihar. The maximum temperature in Samastipur was 12 degrees below normal. This is the lowest dip in day temperature for Samastipur in the past 50 years and the situation is more or less the same in the other districts of north Bihar. Though the science of meteorology does not describe the present situation as cold wave condition, I think north Bihar is witnessing it already,” said Sattar.

Sattar attributed the extreme weather condition to the westerly disturbances and direct influence of climate change in the region.