Chintapalle records season's lowest temperature; settles at 5°C

Visakhapatnam: Chintapalle, the tribal town in Vizag Agency, experienced the coldest day of the season on Friday when the mercury plummeted to 5.0 degree Celsius.

Chintapalle recorded 9.8 degree Celsius on December 21, 8.3 degree Celsius on December 22, and 7.2 degrees Celsius on December 23. The lowest temperature of the season so far was 5 degrees Celsius recorded on December 24, Regional Agriculture Research Station (RARS) said.

The foggy and cold weather conditions at Lammasingi, Tajangi, Vanjangi, Dallapalle and a few other parts of Vizag Agency have been attracting tourists from various parts of the state. Lammasingi popular as Lambasingi famed as Kashmir of Andhra Pradesh.

V Raju Padal, a native of Lammasingi said they have been calculating the temperature at Lammasingi and Tajangi by deducting two degrees from the officially recorded mercury levels at Chintapalle. "We have been witnessing more cold weather conditions in Lammasingi than that of Chintapalle," he said.

Majority of the locals have preferred to stay indoors due to bone-biting cold and dense fog. Tourists however are seen huddling around the bonfires during the morning hours to keep themselves warm.

Dense fog has been affecting the transport and weather started clearing up after 10 am.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that Andhra Pradesh is likely to experience colder days in the coming days. The minimum temperatures are likely to fall below normal by 2 to 4 degree Celsius in most parts of the coastal Andhra Pradesh (CAP) and Rayalaseema region over the next five days. Shallow fog is likely to occur at isolated places in CAP.

As per the IMD, Jangamaheswarapuram in Guntur district recorded a minimum temperature of 13 degree Celsius on Friday followed by Anantapur 13.5, Kalingapatnam, and Nandigama 15, and Amaravati 15.4 degree Celsius. The drop in minimum temperatures in Andhra Pradesh was the result of northerly and easterly winds.