Coimbatore: The people of Coimbatore are waking up to colder mornings than last year. The minimum temperature has been hovering around 19 degree Celsius over the last two days.
The minimum temperature was 18.6 C on the night of January 1 while it was 22.5 C on the same day last year. Even the day temperature was low compared to the 31.4 C of last year as it was 28.5 C on Jan. 1.
The mercury remained low on the next day too, dropping from 31.8 C of last year to 29 C this year. But then surprisingly, the minimum temperature remained the same at 19.5 C on the corresponding nights for the last two years.
Head of Agro Climate Research Centre of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), N Maragatham, said the first two days of this year being cooler than the same days last year was only a natural phenomenon.
"There has been no drastic change in the temperature levels. For the last five years, the average maximum temperature has been hovering around 30 C and minimum at 20 C on the first two days of every year," she said adding that in 2012 the maximum temperature on New Year Day plummeted to 23 C, an all time low in the last five years.
The colder nights are likely to prolong for a few more days with TNAU forecasting a minimum temperature of 18 to 19 C in Coimbatore.
