The Met department on Wednesday said the cold will wane from February 6 paving the way for withdrawal of winter. No strong western disturbances are expected to hit the region that will decrease rain and snow in the Himalayan region, the India meteorological department stated in its Wednesday bulletin.

However, as a fresh western disturbance is likely to affect western Himalayas on February 3, fog will persist over Bihar for the next couple of days before it departs.

On Wednesday, the state capital witnessed a foggy morning with the IMD stating: "Dense to very dense fog observed at many places over Bihar today. Fog is very likely to occur at a few places over Bihar for the next five days."

Conditions were no different in other parts of state as Gaya too reported visibility of a mere 50m in the morning hours.

The prevailing western disturbance has moved away from Jammu and Kashmir, bringing in much-needed relief from incessant rain and snow over the hilly regions. Now, cold and dry north-westerly winds will once again start blowing and with this, dense fog may grip a few pockets in the plains, Patna Met department director Sumendu Sengupta said.

At present, the western disturbance which was over east Jammu and Kashmir, is moving eastwards and hence, the weather across entire north India is likely to remain dry until the next western disturbance approaches which is predicted to affect the western Himalayas by February 3, Sengupta said.

However, weather conditions will improve after February 6.

With no western disturbance affecting western Himalayas, dry and clear weather conditions will prevail over hills and plains after February 6, a Met official said, adding: "Days across the region will be warm with bright sunshine. Meanwhile, southerly winds from the Arabian Sea which are relatively warmer in nature, will also start reaching the plains. Hence, we can expect a slight rise in night temperatures across the state after February 6."

As far as fog is concerned, the weather persisted over the region because of the low wind speed. "After the rainy spell of January 26-27, we witnessed a spike in humidity levels. The humidity and the cold temperature formed fog over the region, the official said and added: "The slow wind speed helped the fog stay for such long hours."

He, however, said: "This foggy spell will thin down with winds starting to pick up pace easing out foggy conditions."