Fresh snowfall in Valley but warm day in other Northern states

New Delhi: Fresh snowfall occurred in the higher reaches of Kashmir while mercury continued its upward trend in most of other northern states.

The minimum temperature on Sunday in the national capital was 14.4 degrees Celsius, six notches above normal for this time of the season, although the maximum temperature was recorded at 21.5 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal.

The city witnessed a cloudy sky throughout the day with relative humidity oscillating between 61 and 100 per cent, a MeT official said. While flight operations remained normal, two Delhi-bound trains were delayed and 16 cancelled, officials said.

In Kashmir, there was fresh snowfall in the higher reaches even as the Valley saw the end of 'Chillai-Kalan', the 40-day harshest phase of the cold. Mercury stayed above freezing point across the region, except at Gulmarg and Pahalgam. Many areas in the plains of the Valley, including the summer capital Srinagar, experienced intermittent rain, the MeT department said. Around one foot of snowfall was recorded in the famous north Kashmir ski resort of Gulmarg since yesterday, a weather official said.

Srinagar recorded a low of 2.8 degrees - an increase by a notch from the previous night's 1.8 degrees Celsius -- while the night temperature in Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir Valley, dropped from 2.6 degrees to settle at 1.8 degrees.

The night temperature of Leh in Ladakh region went down four notches from the previous night's minus 7.3 degrees Celsius to settle at minus 11.3 degrees, the official said. Punjab and Haryana experienced respite from cold conditions as the minimum temperature in most places in the two states increased since yesterday.

Chandigarh recorded a minimum temperature of 9 degrees Celsius, two notches more than normal level while Amritsar was the coldest in the two stated recording a low of 4.2 degrees Celsius.

Elsewhere the minimum temperature ranged from 8.8 to 14 degrees Celsius. However, foggy conditions prevailed at many places early today, including Chandigarh, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Ambala and Karnal affecting normal life.

The mercury rose in Rajasthan with Sriganganagar recording a low of 8.8 degrees Celsius while in other places temperature ranged between 12.5 and 15.5 degrees Celsius.

Ten trains of North-Western Railways were delayed due to fog in the region.