Delhi shivers at 1.9 degrees Celsius, lowest in January in two years

The ongoing cold wave also swept Haryana and Punjab with minimum temperatures hovering below normal limits at most places.

New Delhi: The national capital on Sunday (January 8, 2023) continued to reel a severe cold wave with the minimum temperature at the Safdarjung Observatory, the city's primary weather station, plunging to 1.9 degrees Celsius, the lowest in January in two years. The frosty winds from the snow-clad mountains kept pounding Delhi with the weather stations at Lodhi Road, Ayanagar, Ridge, and Jafarpur recording minimum temperatures of 2.8 degrees Celsius, 2.6 degrees Celsius, 2.2 degrees Celsius, and 2.8 degrees Celsius, respectively.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), it was the fourth day on the trot that Delhi's minimum temperature was lower than most of the hill stations in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, including Chamba (8.2 degrees), Dalhousie (8.2 degrees), Dharamshala (6.2 degrees), Shimla (9.5 degrees), Hamirpur (3.9 degrees), Manali (4.4 degrees), Kangra (7.1 degrees), Solan (3.6 degrees), Dehradun (6 degrees), Mussoorie (9.6 degrees), Nainital (6.2 degrees), Mukteshwar (6.5 degrees) and Tehri (7.6 degrees).

Delhi | Severe cold wave and fog conditions continue to prevail in the national capital. Visuals from Kartavya Path pic.twitter.com/hpahVIAtXY — ANI (@ANI) January 8, 2023

The Safdarjung observatory had logged a minimum temperature of 2.2 degrees Celsius on Saturday, 4 degrees Celsius on Friday, 3 degrees Celsius on Thursday, and 4.4 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.

A severe cold wave had brought the minimum temperature down to a numbing 1.5 degrees Celsius at the Ridge weather station in central Delhi.

Several places in the capital had also recorded a maximum temperature at least seven notches below normal.

Cold wave sweeps Haryana and Punjab

The ongoing cold wave also swept Haryana and Punjab on Sunday with minimum temperatures hovering below normal limits at most places.

Hisar in Haryana reeled under severe chill, recording minimum temperatures of 1.4 degrees Celsius. Biting cold also prevailed in Sirsa, which recorded a minimum temperature of 3.2 degrees Celsius.

Bhiwani recorded a low of 4 degrees Celsius, Rohtak 3.8 degrees Celsius, Narnaul 3 degrees Celsius while Ambala's minimum settled at 4.9 degrees Celsius.

In Punjab, severe cold swept Adampur, which recorded a low of 2.8 degrees Celsius while Rupnagar also reeled under intense cold recording a low of 3.3 degrees Celsius.

Bathinda and Gurdaspur reeled under biting chill with minimum temperatures settling at 3.4 and 4.5 degrees Celsius respectively.

Ludhiana recorded a low of 5.3 degrees Celsius, Patiala 4.3 degrees Celsius, Amritsar 6.6 degrees Celsius, Pathankot 6.6 degrees Celsius, Faridkot 5.6 degrees Celsius, while Mohali recorded a low of 5.7 degrees Celsius.

Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, recorded a low of 4.5 degrees Celsius.

Kashmir receives light snowfall

Meanwhile, some areas in the higher reaches of Kashmir received light snowfall as the minimum temperature settled close to the freezing point at most places in the Valley. There was a light snowfall in some areas in the higher reaches like Gulmarg and Sonamarg-Zojila axis.

Srinagar recorded a low of minus 0.1 degrees Celsius Saturday night -- up from minus 1.4 degrees the night before.

Qazigund, the gateway to the Valley, registered a minimum of minus 1.3 degrees Celsius, while Kokernag in south Kashmir recorded a low of minus 1.6 degrees.

The mercury in Kupwara, a frontier district, settled above the freezing point at a low of minus 0.4 degrees.

The tourist resort town of Pahalgam in Anantnag district, which also serves as a base camp for the annual Amarnath Yatra, registered a low of minus 1.4 degrees Celsius -- up from minus 2.8 degrees.

The minimum temperature in Gulmarg, the famous ski resort town in north Kashmir's Baramulla district, recorded minus 3.4 degrees Celsius.

Kashmir, notably, is currently under the grip of 'Chilla-i-Kalan', the 40-day harshest weather period when the chances of snowfall are maximum and most frequent.

'Chilla-i-Kalan' begins on December 21 and ends on January 30.

The cold wave, however, continues even after that with a 20-day-long 'Chilla-i-Khurd' (small cold) and a 10-day-long 'Chilla-i-Bachha' (baby cold) following it.

(With PTI inputs)