Met department director B P Yadav said in a statement on Wednesday that higher-than-average temperatures were experienced in several other parts of the country. About the reason behind the absence of the chill factor, Yadav said, “The temperatures rose because western disturbances affected only the extreme northern and north-western parts of the country. Besides, anticyclone over Central India caused southerly and southeasterly flow that prevented the cold northerlies from sweeping the region.”

Yadav said though the year began on a cool note, with the mercury lying low in the Capital in the first week of January, it began getting warmer as the weeks progressed. According to the Met department’s data, the mean minimum temperature this January was 8.9 degrees Celsius — against the normal of 7.3 degrees over Delhi, which is the highest in the past 19 years.