New Delhi, Nov 2 (IANS): The minimum temperature of Delhi is predicted to dip further to 10 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The city had recorded a minimum temperature of 10.8 degrees Celsius on Monday morning, the lowest this season so far. According to the weather forecasting agency, it will plummet to 10 degrees Celsius on Tuesday.

The IMD officials said that the sky will mainly remain clear and there will be mist or shallow fog in the morning. The maximum temperature will hover around 30 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature will increase to 11 degrees Celsius on Wednesday and rise by another degree the next day, following which it will start to dip again.

On Monday, while Safdarjung, Delhi's base station for weather, recorded a minimum of 10.8 degrees Celsius, Lodhi Road recorded a minimum of 11.2 degrees Celsius. Palam recorded 13.6 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature was 30.1 degrees Celsius.

"The dip in mercury is due to lack of cloud cover over the region. Clouds trap the outgoing infrared radiation and radiate it back downward, thereby warming the ground," IMD's regional forecasting centre head, Kuldeep Srivastava told IANS.

Besides, in the last three days, there has been light snowfall and rainfall in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, he said, adding that north-westerly winds from those higher regions are blowing into Delhi.

November has started on a colder note. On Sunday, the capital city recorded a minimum temperature of 11.4 degrees Celsius. The month of October was also the city's coldest in the past 58 years. The temperature usually dips to 11-12 degrees Celsius by the last week of November.