People having felt the pinch of longer winter this year can now heave a sigh of relief. The winter is set to bid adieu to the state by February 17.

"Minimum temperature would remain below 13 degrees Celsius in the next three-four days after which it would rise and likely to remain above 13 degrees Celsius by February 17. This would mark the departure of winter from the state," Met office director Ashish Sen said on Tuesday.

In meteorological parlance, winter is considered to have departed from a region when minimum temperature level remains above 13 degree Celsius for minimum of one week.

Giving reasons for presence of a few cloud patches in some parts of Bihar, including Patna, on Tuesday, Sen said it had occurred due to a cyclonic circulation which had developed over Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. "This circulation had led to moisture incursion which caused formation of cloud patches in some parts of the Bihar. The system has weakened now and cloud patches would go away by Tuesday night giving way to clear skies," he added.

He also shared some good news about the likely weather condition in the second half the February. "With no western disturbance in sight, one can expect a clear weather now. For a few days, it would lead to drop in minimum temperature but it would gradually increase and would remain above 13 degrees Celsius during most part of the second half of February and the maximum temperature would hover between 25 and 27 degrees Celsius."

So far as wind conditions are concerned it would be generally westerly with short spell of easterlies on some days. Wind speed is likely to be less than 6kmph, considered to be normal during this time of the year. Regarding the longer duration of winter in Bihar this year, Sen said: "Usually, winter sets in the fourth week of November and departs by the end of second week of February. This year, it started a bit early giving feeling of a prolonged winter."

Bihar started facing winter from the second week of November itself this time because of a series of western disturbances, which had an impact on the state's weather. Winter is considered to have been set in when minimum temperature remains below 13 degrees Celsius continuously for a week or more.

Taking advantage of the improved weather conditions, most of the prominent city schools have resorted to their old timings. "We introduced the original timing a week back," Loyola High School principal Brother Satish said.

Notre Dame Academy and St Michael's High School too have done the same. Don Bosco Academy, however, is treading cautiously. "For now, we have introduced original timing for senior section only and for junior section the academic work is starting from 9am," school director Alfred De Rosario said.

Keeping the severe winter conditions in mind, the Patna district administration had first extended winter vacations in city schools and then it had asked schools to revise times to safeguard children from cold.

The existing chilly condition in Kashmir and other north Indian states has led to a longer winter this year. In Kashmir, Kargil continued to be the coldest recorded place where the minimum temperature fell below the freezing point in most places, including summer capital Srinagar, after a day's respite from the winter chill.

However, the sunny morning provided relief to the people with local Meteorological department predicting dry weather in the state over the next few days.

The night temperature in Kargil registered a dip of over three degrees to settle at minus 18.4 degrees Celsius.