New Delhi, Jan 23 (IANS): Brace yourself for biting cold days ahead as the minimum temperature in the national capital and adjoining areas is set to fall by 3-4 degrees Celsius in the coming days due to likely cold winds, the Met office said on Wednesday.

Minimum temperature on Wednesday morning stod at 8 degrees Celsius, normal for the season and a drop from Monday's 12.5 degrees Celsius.

"Icy cold winds will blow through the entire northwest region which will cause cold wave-like conditions in Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana over the next few days," Mahesh Palawat, Director at private weather agency Skymet, told IANS.

He said that now there are less chances of rain to occur again but dense or shallow fog will continue to cover the city for the next two days.

"There won't be any problem in Republic Day celebrations on Saturday. There will be shallow fog accompanied by cold winds on Saturday morning but no chances of rain," Palawat said.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), there could be some drizzle on Thursday and moderate to dense fog in the morning.

"The minimum temperature on Thursday is expected to hover around 6 degrees Celsius, while the maximum is expected to remain around 19 degrees Celsius," an IMD official said.

In terms of pollution, Delhi breathed "poor" air on Wednesday with 212 reading on the Air Quality Index (AQI), against Tuesday's cleanest air of the month at 104 (moderate).

In the National Capital Region, only Gurugram recorded "moderate" level of pollutants, as the areas like Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Noida had "poor" levels of PM2.5.

Palawat said that pollution levels in Delhi are likely to deteriorate further owing to slow wind speed but it is unlikely that it will again slip into the "very poor' or "severe" zone.