North India on Thursday reeled under a severe cold wave, which claimed the lives of seven persons bringing the total number of people who succumbed to the extreme weather this season to 142.
Two women were among four persons who lost their lives due to severe cold in Maharajganj district of Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh has been under the grip of a cold wave for the past few days.
Night temperatures fell appreciably in Varanasi, Faizabad, Lucknow, Jhansi divisions on Wednesday. They were below normal in Jhansi, Agra, Moradabad, Meerut, Kanpur and Bareilly divisions.
Biting cold continued unabated as mercury remained below normal despite sunshine in most parts of Himachal Pradesh where three persons died in heavy snowstorm over the last few days.
The minimum temperature stayed at minus 1.8 degree and minus 2 degree Celsius at the state capital Shimla and key tourist resort of Manali which experienced 10 cm and 20 cm of fresh snow.
Three persons died during the recent snowstorm in Chamba -- two in Kidi belt and one in snowbound Kandla -- where a dozen houses also collapsed due to heavy snow.
Breaking a 16-year-old record, the mercury in Kashmir Valley stayed below the freezing point for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday.
For past four nights and three days, the mercury has failed to reach zero degrees Celsius mark, leading to severe cold in Kashmir.
In the summer capital Srinagar, the minimum temperature was recorded at minus 3.8 degrees Celsius, a drop of 0.5 degrees from last night, a MeT official said.
The official said the maximum temperature has fallen below the freezing point in Srinagar and adjoining areas for the first time since 1995 when it plunged to minus 2.1 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, mercury in Leh town of remote Ladakh region had plunged to a minimum of minus 10.4 degrees Celsius while the minimum temperature in adjoining Kargil district was recorded at extreme minus 18.0 degrees Celsius, the official said.
In the capital Delhi, an icy breeze brought more chill though the night temperatures witnessed a marginal increase.
The minimum temperature was recorded at 5.3 degree Celsius, two degrees below normal and up from Wednesday’s 4.6 degrees. The maximum was 18.5 degree Celsius yesterday.
Cold wave conditions prevailed across Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh today with temperatures remaining below normal levels.
Chandigarh experienced a cold night at 4.6 degrees Celsius.
In Haryana, Narnaul was the coldest place recording a low of 2 degrees Celsius, down three notches while Hisar was also equally cold at 2.1 degrees.
Rajasthan was under the grip of a severe cold wave which threw life out of gear for residents of the state.
Churu in plains recorded the lowest temperature of minus 0.2 degrees Celsius followed by Rawatbhata where people shivered at 2 degrees Celsius.
Pink city Jaipur had a low of 4.4 degrees Celsius and Bikaner had a minimum of 4.6 degrees Celsius, according to MeT department.
