Cold wave swept most parts of north India on Saturday as mercury dipped to 0°C in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir’s Leh district shivered at minus 19°C even as extreme cold conditions claimed two more lives in Uttar Pradesh.
The day also saw the national capital recording the season’s lowest temperature of 5.2°C. People had to brave icy winds as mercury dipped 2.2 notches from Friday’s 7.4°C. A thin layer of fog engulfed the city in the morning reducing the visibility to 700m. However, flight movement was not affected.
Snowfall in higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir valley brought down temperatures in Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand where foggy conditions prevailed, Met officials said.
Two persons died in Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh.
Leh and Kargil districts were reeling under severe cold wave as minimum temperatures dipped to minus 19.4°C and minus 14°C respectively. Even day temperatures registered a steep fall with the two places recording a minimum of minus 2°C and 5.8°C respectively.
Srinagar recorded a low of minus 4.4°C. However, there was a little improvement in Jammu as the city recorded a minimum of 6.8°C. The city had recorded a low of 4.7°C on Friday.
The high reaches of Himachal Pradesh remained under sub-zero temperature while the lower areas had no respite from the shivering cold winds. Kaza in Lahaul-Spiti recorded night temperature of minus 16°C. Keylong, the headquarters of Lahaul-Spiti, had a night temperature of minus 11.4°C.
Officials said Spiti river froze at many places due to extreme cold condition.
Similarly, Kalpa in Kinnaur district registered night temperature of minus 4°C while it was minus 0.4°C in Bhuntar, they said.
The condition in most parts of Punjab and Haryana intensified further with Rohtak and Amritsar registering bone-chilling temperatures. Rohtak and Amritsar braved the season’s coldest night so far at 0°C and 0.5°C each respectively, down by 6 and 3 notches respectively.
Biting cold also prevailed in most parts of Haryana, including Karnal, where the season’s lowest minimum was registered at 1.9°C, down 6 notches.
Mount Abu continued to be the coldest place in Rajasthan with a minimum temperature of 1.4°C followed by Ganganagar at 4.2°C, a Met official said.
Churu chilled at 4.4°C while Dabok and Dholpur shivered at 6.7°C and 6.8°C respectively.
Dry cold conditions continued in the Uttarakhand where normal life was affected in the hilly areas due to the yesterday’s snowfall. The minimum temperature today was recorded at 3.9°C in the State.
Cold conditions in the region are likely to continue over the next few days, according to the Met department.
