Much of North India reels under extreme cold with temperatures plunging to near zero in states, including Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab. The minimum temperatures in Punjab and Haryana were around 2.8 degrees Celsius, the lowest in nine years, while Delhi witnessed a minimum temperature of 3°C, nearly five degrees below the seasonal average which is nearly five degrees below the seasonal average.
The cold wave is accompanied by dense fog in several regions, which disrupted rail and road traffic.
While the IMD has predicted the cold wave and fog to persist over the next two days, especially in Maharashtra and Delhi, there is good news for northwest India. The temperatures are expected to rise by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius over the subsequent five days. The northwest includes the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, the NCT of Delhi, and Chandigarh.
However, the minimum temperatures in Maharashtra will remain unchanged over the next five days. In Gujarat, the minimum temperature may decrease by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius over the next 48 hours. There is no significant change expected in minimum temperatures in other parts of the country.
The IMD has also predicted dense fog in states including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh, which is likely to persist till Thursday. However, no major rainfall or snowfall is expected over the next six days in hilly areas in Himachal. Shimla and Kullu districts of Himachal Pradesh have not been issued any warnings for the rest of the week.
Freezing Cold 🥶 Outskirts of #Gurgaon recorded -1.0°c with layers of ground #Frost everywhere on 12th Jan, 2026
— Weatherman Navdeep Dahiya (@navdeepdahiya55) January 12, 2026
A severe #Coldwave led to layer of Ice due to freezing of dew in sub zero temps ❄️ in open areas of #Delhi NCR, #Haryana #Rajasthan & #Punjab today pic.twitter.com/IxfvFYaxto
Why the extreme cold
The current cold condition is uncharacteristic for many regions of eastern and central India. Experts predict the cold is due to a rare southward cold blast from the Arctic region.
“Winter 2025–26 in India witnessed cold-like conditions, marked by persistently below-normal min temp across North, Central, and East India,” wrote Debashish Jena, research scholar in agro-meteorology at Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Uttarakhand, on social media platform X. “The anomaly was driven by La Niña–induced strengthening of the Walker and Hadley circulations, intensification and southward shift of the subtropical westerly jet, frequent western disturbances, enhanced strong cold air advection from higher latitudes, and post-disturbance clear-sky radiative cooling leading to prolonged cold nights and cold wave conditions,” wrote Jena.
