New Delhi, Jan. 11 -- North-west India is experiencing one of its driest winters on record, with an 84.8% rainfall deficiency in December and 84% in the first ten days of January, leaving the region's hills parched and starved of snow at the height of the winter season, the India Meteorological Department said on Saturday. The unprecedented dry spell - caused by western disturbances bypassing the region entirely - has created near-drought conditions across the Western Himalayas, with even higher reaches of Uttarakhand recording no snowfall in January, a rare meteorological occurrence for the month. "The main reason for such dry conditions is that western disturbances did not affect the Western Himalayan region this winter. A WD is approaching but let's see if it causes rain and snowfall," said M Mohapatra, director general of IMD. Mahesh Palawat, vice president of climate and meteorology at Skymet Weather, added: "It is almost like there are drought-like conditions over the hills. This is very unusual in December and January... This could be one of the driest winters for north-west India." Western disturbances - extratropical storm systems originating in the Mediterranean that bring crucial winter moisture to northern India - have travelled at unusually high latitudes this season, giving the subcontinent a complete miss. Dense fog is very likely during morning hours over north-west India and Bihar for the next five to seven days. Specifically, dense to very dense fog is forecast over Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh until January 12, extending in isolated pockets until January 17. Similar conditions are expected over Rajasthan until January 11, the Jammu division until January 12, and Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand until January 15. Cold wave to severe cold wave conditions are forecast in isolated pockets of Rajasthan on Monday and Tuesday....