Kathmandu Valley witnessed the coldest day of this winter on Tuesday, with the mercury dropping to 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division (MFD).

 Since the start of this week, the minimum day temperatures in the Valley have hovered between 2 and 3 degrees Celsius.

The extreme minimum temperature ever recorded for Kathmandu was -2 degrees Celsius on December 31, 1977. The lowest minimum temperature recorded for December last year was 2.7 degrees Celsius.

“The chilling weather conditions will continue for over two weeks with more severe cold in the coming days,” said Shanta Kandel, a meteorologist at the MFD. “Kathmandu will remain cloudy for the next couple of days, which is likely to bring the temperatures down in the mornings and nights.”

Though the average monthly rainfall in Kathmandu for the month of December is 13.2mm, the Valley has not witnessed rain so far. Winter in the Valley starts from mid-November, with December and January being the coldest months. On Tuesday, except for Dharan, all 19 meteorological stations of the MFD recorded minimum temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius. Jumla recorded the lowest temperature at -8.3 degrees Celsius