Winter chill continues in North India, several trains cancelled, rescheduled due to dense fog

New Delhi: A large part of North India continues to remain under the grip of cold wave, which affected the normal life and led to the cancellation of several trains and delayed flight operations on Thursday.

According to MeT Department, Kargil shivered at minus 9.6 degree Celsius, while dense fog led to the cancellation of over a dozen trains in the region today.

North-western plains, including Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and West Uttar Pradesh, were covered under dense fog this morning.

The fog played spoilsport for the railways in north India. 

A Northern Railway spokesperson said besides 19 trains being cancelled, 26 arrived late in Delhi, while seven others had to be re-scheduled.

In Delhi, the minimum temperature settled at 7C.

"The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to hover at 23 and 7 degrees respectively," the weatherman said.

In the Kashmir Divison, including the Ladakh region, the night temperature again dipped and stayed below the freezing point at all stations, a MET department official in Srinagar said.

Kashmir is currently under the grip of 'Chillai-Kalan',  a 40-day harshest period of winter when the possibility of snowfall is maximum and the temperature drops considerably.

Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, recorded a minimum temperature of minus 2.7C last night, a decrease of over three degrees from the 0.7C the previous night.

The official said the mercury in Qazigund in south Kashmir settled at a low of minus 1.6C, over a degree down from the minus 0.4C the previous night. 

In the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir, the temperature settled at a low of minus 4C,  nearly two degrees colder than the previous night's minus 2.4C.

In Kargil, in the Ladakh region, the night temperature dipped nearly six degrees last night as the mercury settled at a low of minus 9.6C from the minus 3.7C the previous night, he said. Kargil was the coldest place in Jammu and Kashmir.

The nearby Leh town recorded a low of minus 7.1C.

In Punjab, Adampur was the coldest place today with a minimum of 3.8C.

Cold has maintained its grip over the neighbouring Haryana too, where Narnaul was the coldest place at 4.7C.

Fog enveloped many areas in Punjab and Haryana. However, the sky was clear in Chandigarh.

Rajasthan too reeled under intense cold conditions today with Sikar recording a minimum temperature of 3.5C. Alwar recorded a minimum of 4.2C, the MeT department in Jaipur said.

Sri Ganganagar, Chittorgarh, Churu and Pilani recorded night temperatures of 6.1, 6.2, 6.6 and 7.3 degrees Celsius respectively, it said.
The weather is expected to remain the same during the next 24 hours in Rajasthan, it said.

Dense to very dense fog occurred at several places in Uttar Pradesh. Muzaffarnagar recorded the lowest temperature in the state at 4.6C. "Weather is likely to remain dry in the state in the next 24 hours," the Met office in Lucknow said.

In southern India, the weather was not too different.

The hilly Nilgiris district continued to remain in the grip of cold with a village on the outskirts of the popular tourist town Udhagamandalam recording sub-zero temperature for the second time in a week.

The temperature dipped to minus 5C at Sandinala, about 10 km from Ooty, as Udhagamandalam is popularly known, an official said.

The area recorded minus 3C on December 24 with the sub-zero temperature occurring in the region after a gap of three years.

The Met office in Chennai yesterday issued a frost warning, saying ground frost was likely to occur at a few places over hill ranges of Nilgiris district over the next two nights. 

(With PTI inputs)