Cold wave alert has been issued in 11 districts in Jharkhand from Friday.

An IMD official on Thursday said a cold wave warning has been issued for 11 districts of Jharkhand from December 5, due to which the minimum temperature will drop below 10 degrees Celsius in many parts of the state.

According to the weather bulletin issued on Thursday afternoon, ‘Yellow Alert’ of cold wave (be careful) has been issued for 48 hours from 8.30 am on Friday for Garhwa, Palamu, Chatra, Latehar, Lohardaga, Gumla, Simdega, Khunti, Ranchi, Ramgarh and Bokaro districts.

The IMD official said the mercury level has fallen in Jharkhand due to north-westerly winds blowing at the lower troposphere level.

Abhishek Anand, deputy director of Ranchi Meteorological Centre, said, “The minimum temperature may drop by up to 4 degrees Celsius during the next three days. After this, it may rise by two to three degrees Celsius.”

Gumla recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 5.9 degrees Celsius, followed by Khunti at 8 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature was 8.6 degrees Celsius in Daltonganj and 8.8 degrees Celsius in Hazaribagh.

Bokaro and Latehar recorded minimum temperatures of 9.5 and 9.8 degrees Celsius respectively.

The temperature of Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, reached 10.8 degrees Celsius on Thursday.

Anand said that the weather remained dry in most parts of the state in the last 24 hours.