New Delhi: A severe cold wave prevailed on Thursday in North India where a thick fog cover has thrown normal life out of gear.
Fog enveloped the capital Delhi for the second day today reducing visibility below 50 metres in the morning hours and affecting air and rail traffic even as the mercury plummeted below five degree Celsius.
The minimum temperature was recorded at 4.8 degree
Celsius, two degrees below normal and down from the previous
day`s 5.6 degrees. Yesterday, the maximum was recorded at 15.5
degree Celsius, five degrees below normal.
Fog descended on the capital early this morning delaying
around ten flights. The normal visibility dropped below 50
metres. The fog cover lifted at around 10am.
Several trains were also running behind schedule due to
fog in north India.
The Kashmir Valley also continued to reel under extreme
cold as minimum temperatures across the region remained below
freezing point.
Mercury in the summer capital Srinagar settled at a low
of minus 1.4 degrees Celsius.
Srinagar city has witnessed a slight respite from the
extreme cold weather since a spell of snowfall led to increase
in the minimum temperature, though mercury has remained
sub-zero.
The night temperature in the famous skiing resort of
Gulmarg in north Kashmir plunged to minus 12.6 degrees
Celsius, a drop of 0.2 degrees from yesterday.
In the south Kashmir`s tourist resort of Pahalgam, the
minimum temperature was recorded at minus 5.0 degrees
Celsius, an increase of 7.2 degrees.
Leh town in remote Ladakh region recorded a minimum of
minus 16.6 degrees Celsius, an increase of 3.3 degrees from
yesterday, the official said.
Cold and fog were back in Punjab and Haryana today where
residents had been experiencing a temporary respite for a few
days.
Narnaul in Haryana was the coldest in the two states
registering a minimum temperature of 2 degrees Celsius, three
degrees below normal, the Met office said here.
Minimum temperatures also dipped by three notches each at
Hisar (4.1 deg C), Rohtak (4.5 deg C) and Bhiwani (4.6 deg C)
while Karnal registered a low of 6.2 deg C.
The night temperature in Ambala, however, settled three
notches above normal at 9.2 deg C.
In Punjab, Amritsar experienced a cold night at 5 deg C
while Ludhiana recorded a below normal minimum at 6.3 deg C.
The minimum temperature at Adampur airbase in Jalandhar
district plummeted to 4 degrees C from yesterday`s 7.3
degrees.
Patiala`s low was recorded at 7.7 deg C while Chandigarh,
where misty conditions prevailed in early morning, registered
a low of 9.2 deg C.
A few places in the region including Chandigarh, Patiala,
Mohali and Panchkula received light showers.
After a gap of a few days, fog was back at Karnal, Ambala
and Rohtak in Haryana and at Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala in
Punjab, the Met office said.
Cold wave continued unabated in Rajasthan with
temperatures remaining well below the normal across the desert
state.
Mercury at Churu settled at 2 degree Celsius while
Sawaimadhopur recorded 2.8 degree Celsius, according to the
MeT department here.
Vanasthali, Pilani, Jaipur, Sikar, Ajmer and Chittorgarh
recorded minimum temperatures of 3, 3.8, 4.6, 4.8, 5.5 and 5.8
degree Celsius respectively.
PTI
