Patna: "Not yet," say met department officials as the long spell of harsh winter combined with dense fog continues in Patna and other parts of the state, forcing people to ask when this bone-chilling cold will go.

Weather experts are also predicting a 2-3º-Celsius drop in minimum temperatures till January 22 and some winter rain around January 23.

Foggy conditions will also continue over various parts of the state ranging from shallow and moderate to dense fog.

"I've never experienced such a shivering, biting winter in Patna as far as I can remember," said Nitu Singh (in her thirties), a management professional living in Patna. "The problem is that as per the Hindu calendar, Basant or spring is at our doorstep and Saraswati Puja is on January 22, Basant Panchmi day. And yet the weather is so cold. Scientists should explore the reasons behind this and whether the weather pattern is changing."

So dense is the fog over the Gangetic plains in Bihar, that Bhagalpur jointly topped the charts across the country along with Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh with a visibility of just 50m on Wednesday. It was 500m in Patna in the morning, though it improved substantially 11.30am onwards as the Sun shone through the fog.

Patna recorded a minimum temperature of 7.1º Celsius with day cold conditions on Wednesday as the maximum temperature at 16.6º Celsius was 6ºC below normal. Thursday won't be much better as day cold conditions could prevail again.

Bhagalpur, Purnea, Chapra and Forbesganj also experienced day cold conditions, with the maximum temperatures remaining 5-7º below normal. Gaya recorded the lowest minimum in the state with the mercury dropping to 4.5º Celsius in the morning.

"The present western disturbance over east Afghanistan and Pakistan is likely to move northeast-wards in the next 48 hours. Associated changes in wind pattern might cause minimum temperatures at night to fall by 2-3º over the plains in northwest parts of the country. Dense fog and day cold conditions could prevail over the Gangetic plains, including Bihar," an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The IMD official spoke of possible cold wave and ground frost conditions at various places. Regarding day cold conditions at various places, the weather official said the dense fog was still obstructing sunrays from reaching the ground and the condition will not improve unless minimum temperatures rise, leading to an increase in maximum temperature.