Kids braced against the morning chill in Patna on Friday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Cold winds coupled with fog have made days and nights unbearable for the residents of the capital. However, the city is yet to witness cold wave conditions.

Thick fog has been enveloping the city from 11pm till around 9am for the past week or so. Weathermen have claimed that such cold and hazy days would prevail over the weekend too.

C.S. Patil, the in-charge at India Meteorological Department, Patna, told The Telegraph: “Moist winds coming from a cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal and the cold westerly and the north-westerly winds coming from Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh have affected the weather in Patna.”

“It is because of the simultaneous impact of these two weather elements that the city has a dense fog cover. Such conditions are expected to continue during the weekend. The maximum temperature would be around 23°C and the minimum temperature would be around 10°C,” Patil added.

The cold would be felt more when the wind speed increases, claimed the weatherman.

“At present, the average wind speed is around 4-5kmph, which is normal at this time of the year. However, a winter day with strong winds can be much colder despite the temperature remaining static. The greater the wind speed, the faster we lose body heat, making us feel colder. However, such wind conditions are not expected at least during the weekend,” said Patil.

The change in the temperature has severely affected normal life.

“It is almost freezing outside. Even at home, one cannot sit without switching on the heater. The fog has turned the weather damp. I have postponed my morning walk timings from 6am to 7am. Thanks to the change in the school timings, our children are saved from the pricking cold in the morning,” said Avinash Kumar, a resident of Ashiana Nagar.

On Friday, the air traffic at Patna airport was irregular. The first flight (GoAir’s G8-385) landed at 3pm. The flight operates on the Mumbai-Patna-Ranchi-Mumbai route. It was scheduled to land here at 1.20pm.

However, the only good news for the residents of Patna is that they are yet to experience cold-wave conditions because the fog is not allowing the minimum temperature to fall by less than 5°C from the expected minimum temperature.