Chilly winds make Ahmedabad scurry for warm cover

AHMEDABAD: Strong chilly winds blowing at the speed of 10-15 km per hour left people scurrying for a warm cover on Friday. The cloudy weather and low minimum temperature of 26.1 degrees, 2.2 degrees below normal made people feel the cold more than it was.
Weather officials said that the temperatures were actually rising over the state. "Minimum temperature in Ahmedabad was recorded at 17 degrees-- 4.9 degrees above normal.In other parts of the state, the minimum temperature was above 11 degrees. However, since the cold winds are blowing and day temperature is less, people are feeling the chill," said Manorama Mohanty, senior scientist at Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Gujarat.
Mohanty said that the chilly winds are because there are two upper air circulations over Punjab and UP due to which westerly-south westerly winds are blowing at the upper level in Gujarat.
"The westerly-southwesterly winds are picking up lot of moisture from the Arabian Sea making the winds chilly. By Sunday, the weather should normalize with clouds paving way for the sun", added Mohanty.
In the wake of the sudden cold wave in the last two days, illnesses such as bronchitis, aggravated asthma, flu and cold have spiked in the city. “In the past two-three days, there were at least 10-12 cases of bronchitis, influenza and cold and throat infections. Throat-related issues were more evident among children. In fact, some of the asthma patients also complained of aggravated breathing difficulty,” said Dr Pravin Garg, a city-based general practitioner.
Meanwhile, people were enjoying the chill in the weather. Abhishek Viramgami (28), a city-based software professional, said the chilly winds have rendered the weather conducive to gorge on piping hot tea with bhajiyas!
Ambalal Meghwal, who runs a tea stall at Ashram road, said that the winter chills increased number of customers but making tea in bone-chilling weather is not an easy task. "I stand at my tea stall till late night which earns my livelihood but the winter chills pinch like needle," he said.