Lucknow, Nov 4 (IANS): The weather office Tuesday forecast early onset of the winter season in Uttar Pradesh as the temperatures here saw the biggest dip in the past five years.

The mercury plummeted to 11 degrees in the state capital Monday, officials said Tuesday. The Met Office said such a drop in temperature is recorded only by the end of November.

Regional Met director J.P. Gupta said icy winds from Himachal Pradesh are likely to result in early onset of the winters.

While the maximum temperature in the first three days of November has hovered around 30-32 degrees Celsius, which is a degree below normal, Met officials said the night temperatures had dipped significantly over the past three days.

The minimum temperature which was 16.5 degrees Celsius Oct 31 has steadily dropped to 15.2 degrees Celsius Nov 1, 13 degrees Nov 2 and 11 degrees Celsius Nov 3.

The weatherman has forecast that the night temperatures will see a further drop, making it "unusually cold" for this part of the year.

The school timings across the state capital and many other parts of the state have been revised and the schools have now been put under the winter season timings.