Experts looking at global climate models say there’s a good chance that February and March too will see below normal temperatures. As several parts of India reel under a cold spell, here's worse news: expect the rest of the winter to be colder than usual. Experts looking at global climate models say there's a good chance that February and March too will see below normal temperatures.

What seems to be loading the dice in favour of a cold winter is La Nina - a phenomenon better known in India for aiding good monsoon rains.

NEW DELHI: Soon farmers across the country can get their agriculture and weather-related queries answered quickly. The Indian government is planning to launch a spoken web service that will provide an interactive medium for the farming community. In a country where close to 60 percent of the 1.21 billion population still depends on agriculture for a living, the spoken web service can be a boon to farmers in distant areas.

If Monday saw Pune shivering at a 7.2° Celsius, Tuesday is expected to be colder still at 6° Celsius. In fact, the city’s lowest minimum temperature of7.2° this season on Monday morning was a good four degrees below normal. While predicting a further drop to 6° on Tuesday morning, IMD officials expected the minimumtemperatures to stay in the 6-8 degree band over the next three days.

THIS year could become one of the top 10 hottest since 1850, with global temperatures expected to be almost half a degree Celsius warmer in 2012 than the long-term (1961-1990) average of 14 degrees, the UK’s Met Office said on Wednesday.

The prediction follows provisional figures published by the Met Office and University of East Anglia last month, which showed that temperatures in 2011 were 0.36 degrees above the long-term average to make it the 11th warmest year on record.

Realising the danger faced by people of Chitral due to avalanches, a local youth has invented a machine to warn about movement of avalanche in mountains and highlands.

“It will help to minimise the devastation caused by avalanches,” said Mohammad Khalid, who has a master degree in electronics from University of Peshawar.

Even as fog monitoring and analysis at the Indira Gandhi International Airport has improved significantly this season, with very few instances of flight diversions, the Indian Meteorological Department is now in the process of acquiring an Aviation Weather Decision Support System (AWDSS) that would help detect and predict weather hazards specific to the aviation industry and communicate minute-wise information to operational users.

A "very severe" cyclonic storm lay centered about 250 km off Chennai, with the weather office forecasting winds touching up to 135 kph and advising fishermen against venturing into sea for the next two days. "The very severe cyclonic storm 'Thane' over southwest Bay of Bengal moved west-southwestward and lay centered about 250 km east-southeast of Chennai, 270 km of Puduchery and 420 km north-northeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka).

KOLKATA, 26 DEC: After a spell of chill in the state, days would become cloudier and there may even be light rain over the coastal districts but the season's nip would be missing for the next 24 hours. A depression over south-east Bay of Bengal that moved north-westwards and intensified into a deep depression lay centred over south-east Bay of Bengal near 9.5 degrees North latitude and 87.5 degrees East latitude.