New Delhi: The chill showed no signs of ebbing in north India, buffeted by icy winds, with mercury continuing to hover below normal in most parts.
The minimum temperature recorded in Delhi was 5.6 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal although it was an improvement from yesterday`s 4.4 degrees.
The maximum, too, showed a similar trend and stayed a notch below normal at 20.5 degrees Celsius.
In Jammu and Kashmir, fresh snowfall brought respite from the intense cold in the Kashmir Valley although night temperatures across the Valley remained below freezing point.
Summer capital Srinagar whose outskirts received a slight trace of snowfall settled at -1.8 degrees Celsius, up from -3.2 degrees Celsius the night before, a MeT official said.
Leh town, in the Ladakh region, saw a slight drop in the night temperature, from -19.4 degrees Celsius yesterday to -20.4 degrees Celsius, to continue being the coldest place in the state.
Himachal Pradesh, where avalanches killed seven people yesterday, continued to be swept by icy, cold winds on what was a sunny day in the state.
Although the sun was largely ineffective against the biting cold with the mercury in several areas of the state hovering at sub-zero levels, it did ensure that maximum day temperatures stayed close to normal.
Most roads in the high altitude regions were blocked due to heavy snowfall with Shimla, Kullu and Sirmaur districts rendered cut off from rest of the state.
According to the MeT office, Keylong continued to be the coldest place in the state, recording the mercury at -13.1 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal.
Manali shivered at -4.0 degrees while Capital Shimla recorded a minimum of 2 degrees.
Cold conditions prevailed in Punjab and Haryana with minimum temperatures dipping a few notches below normal in both states.
Adding to the woes was the dense fog in the region which disrupted normal life in Ludhiana, Amritsar and Karnal.
Narnaul in Haryana was the coldest place in the region as mercury settled at 2.5 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal, the MeT office said here today.
Mild sunshine in Uttar Pradesh meant that the maximum temperatures remained in the 7-11 degrees Celsius range at a few places. Najibabad in Bijnore district was the coldest place in the state at 2.2 degrees Celsius.
Temperatures were pointing slightly upwards in parts of Rajasthan. Vansthali recorded the lowest remperature of 3.4 degrees Celsius while other areas of the state recorded lows of between 6.9 and 10.2 degrees Celsius.
PTI
