Relatively warm day in North India

New Delhi: Mercury remained above normal limits on Thursday at most places in North India, making it a relatively warmer day even as a bright winter sun greeted the people in Kashmir which is in mid of the 40-day-long harshest phase of winters.

Cloudy and humid weather conditions in the national capital pushed mercury to 24.7 degrees Celsius, five notches above the season's average.

Minimum for the day was also recorded four notches above normal at 11.5 degrees Celsius.

Foggy conditions affected visibility, recorded 300 meters at 8.30 AM. It later improved and was measured 700 meters at 11:30 AM. The moisture content in the air wavered between 67 and 100 per cent.

Local MeT office predicted overcast skies for tomorrow along with the possibility of light rains and thundershowers in some parts of the city.

In Jammu and Kashmir, after several days of overcast conditions owing to Western Disturbance which resulted in snowfall, the winter sun shone again today providing relief to the people from the sweeping icy winds.

The minimum temperature in most places including Srinagar stayed above freezing point but is expected to fall in the coming days, a MeT department official said.

However, the night temperature across the Valley plummeted by several degrees due to clear skies with Gulmarg being the coldest place at minus 11.2 degrees Celsius.

Kashmir is in the mid of the 40-day-long harshest phase of winter, known as Chillai-Kalan in local parlance, which began on December 21 and will continue till the end of this month. In states of Punjab and Haryana, minimum temperatures hovered between one to four notches above normal limits at most places.

Amritsar recorded the lowest at 4.6 degrees Celsius while the Union Territory of Chandigarh had a low of 7.9 degrees Celsius. Local Met office predicted foggy conditions at isolated places in both the states during the next 24 hours.

Also, it was a warm day in Rajasthan as the day temperatures hovered above 22.6 degrees Celsius at most places in the state. Cold conditions have subsided in the state due to the Western Disturbance affecting the upper air cyclonic circulation.

However, the schedule of 10 trains was affected due to fog in neighbouring states, a North-Western Railways spokesperson said.