Lucknow, Jan 2 (IANS): Even as the regional Met department on Saturday warned of a cold wave during next few days in Uttar Pradesh, it said the winter chill would be "muted" this year.

As moderate cold and no steady drop in temperatures was experienced in December, the Met department has forecast that January would be similar.

While there has been significant snowfall in most of the hilly areas, the bite in the chill was missing, a senior official from the Met department said.

In the last few years December 31 was the coldest in 2012 when the minimum temperature in Lucknow had dropped to 0.6 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature in 2013 was recorded at 1.7 degrees Celsius, seven degrees Celsius in 2015 and 5.8 degrees Celsius on December 31, 2015.

In this season, the maximum temperatures hovered above 20 degrees Celsius and the minimum temperatures only dropped for a few days below four degrees Celsius.

The cold wave has been 'effective' in western and eastern parts of the state while central Uttar Pradesh has so far been recording normal temperatures. Fog however, will continue for another fortnight, the weather office said.

The intense cold wave in north, the Met office said, was regulated by cyclonic circulations in neighbouring Pakistan and Afghanistan but so far this year no changes have taken place in this cycle, leading to normal winters.