December does not have its regular feel with maximum temperature on Wednesday touching 27.9 degrees Celsius, four notches above normal. However, the Met department predicts a drop in temperature from Thursday as wind patterns in the region are set to change.

Met officials said the relatively warm weather in the past few days has been due to a western disturbance over Jammu and Kashmir and nearby regions. In its wake, southerly winds have been keeping the temperature high. Also, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab have been witnessing rainfall and Delhi has had high moisture in the air which caused the fog on Wednesday and is likely to lead to more low visibility conditions on Thursday. About the haze enveloping the skyline, the weatherman said westerly winds blowing through the city are not swift enough to blow away the dust. “The haze is due to the smog formed by dust particles in the air,” the official said, “and the fog situation is quite normal.”

B P Yadav, director, IMD said, “In the next few days, the minimum temperature should drop to as low as 9 degrees celsius. Though we may still experience hazy conditions since there is moisture in the air, we are not likely to see dense fog for a few days. The western disturbance is now moving and we should see a change as early as Thursday.''