Context

Severe cold have gripped northern India as the mercury dropped to near freezing temperature in Rajasthan's Churu.

• As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), cold wave to severe cold wave conditions have been prevailing in some parts of north Rajasthan and Punjab, while cold wave conditions prevail in isolated pockets over Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan and Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, north Rajasthan and north Madhya Pradesh.

Background

• This is the first cold wave predicted for this season.
• India witnessed 99 cold wave days in 2020, which was however lower than 2019.
• Cold waves first hit Punjab and Haryana before Delhi, since they come from the western direction.
• Cold wave alerts have been issued by the IMD only since the winter of 2016.
• But IMD has mentioned the occurrence of cold waves and the deaths due to such events in its annual climate summaries since 2009.