People warm them up beside a bonfire in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Jan. 11: Over the past few days, the temperature in the state has become a contender of Sachin Tendulkar. Like the Master Blaster, the mercury column has been bettering its record with each passing day.

The state capital recorded the minimum day temperature of the season today, as the mercury could climb only up to 13.9°C.

Over half a dozen places continued to reel from the cold wave conditions in the state today. Gaya, with a minimum of 3.9°C, was the coldest place of the state.

Other places, which kept shivering the most in the state, include Patna (5.5), Chhapra (4.6), Dehri-on-Sone (4.8), Motihari (5), Purnea (5.9) and Sabour (4.1) in Bhagalpur district.

According to meteorological office, the cold condition may intensify further on Wednesday.

“One or two places in Bihar will witness severe cold wave condition on Wednesday,” assistant meteorologist of local Met office Balmukund Choudhary told The Telegraph.

While cold wave conditions are said to be prevailing when the minimum temperature level goes four degrees or more below the normal, in case of severe cold wave conditions this departure from normal is more than 6°C.

Cold wave conditions apart, several places in Bihar are witnessing day cold conditions with maximum temperature -level going down below the 16°C mark.

On Tuesday, the day cold condition prevailed in Patna (13.9), Gaya (15.3), Bhagalpur (13.5), Purnea (14.8), Begusarai (13.4), Banka (12.9), Bhojpur (13.4), Buxar (12.4), Madhubani (12.5), Jehanabad (11.4), Harnaut (12.7), Jamui (13.5), Katihar (13.2), Madhepura (12.1), West Champaran (12.3), Munger (12.5), Gaya (14.6), Muzaffarpur (10.9), Sasaram (15.3), Sheohar (12.2), Siwan (11.3) and Vaishali (12).

Besides the chill in the air, dense fog hit normal life in the state. Low visibility in Patna took its toll on flight operations. The GoAir Delhi-Patna-Delhi flight did not operate today. Visibility improved after 1pm and the first flight of the day landed at Patna airport around 1.30pm.

Amid the gloomy and shivering conditions, there is a ray of hope. Weathermen are expecting an increase in minimum temperature on Thursday evening.

“A western disturbance is likely to hit Bihar on Friday and prior to its arrival the minimum temperature will go up,” Choudhary said.