The minimum temperature continued to rise in Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana, while overnight rain lashed Kashmir Valley with the higher reaches, including the tourist resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam, receiving fresh snowfall.
In Rajasthan, the mercury settled over 5 degrees Celsius above normal providing respite to people from cold conditions, a weather department report said.
Minimum temperatures varied between 9 and 15.5 degrees C at most places including Ganganagar, Churu, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Udaipur, Kota, Ajmer and Jaipur, officials in Jaipur said.
Mount Abu
The hill station of Mount Abu remained the coldest place in the State with a minimum temperature of 7 degrees Celsius last night, the official said.
The cold conditions subsided in the last couple of days due to western disturbances and high speed westerly winds over the desert-State.
Once the western disturbances are phased out completely, the mercury will most likely plummet in the coming weekend in the State, a forecast said.
Trains rescheduled
Two northern passenger trains were on Tuesday rescheduled and 12 others were running late from 50 minutes to 4 hours after fog and mist in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, and Punjab.
Above normal
The minimum temperature continued to rise across Punjab and Haryana to settle a few notches above normal today even as some places in the region received rainfall.
Chandigarh, which received light showers this morning, recorded a low of 11.6 degrees Celsius, five notches above normal, the MeT said.
In Punjab, Amritsar registered a low of 7 deg C, up two notches, while Ludhiana’s minimum settled at 9 deg C, two above normal. Patiala recorded four degrees above normal low and settled at 10.6 deg C.
Hisar and Ambala in Haryana also recorded above normal minimums at 10.6 deg C and 11.5 deg C respectively.
Karnal registered a low of 9.5 deg C, up two notches, while Narnaul’s low settle at 10 deg C, five degrees above normal.
Bhiwani recorded a minimum of 10 deg C, up three notches. Meanwhile, light rains also lashed Patiala, Ambala and Panchkula among other places.
Kashmir valley
The plains of the Kashmir Valley, including Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, received rainfall and the higher reaches like Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Kupwara received fresh snowfall, an official of the MeT Department said in Srinagar.
The night temperatures across the Valley registered a slight drop, while the minimum in the Ladakh region went up as compared to the previous night.
Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of 1.7 degrees Celsius, a slight drop from the previous night’s 1.8 degrees Celsius, the official said. The city received 3.8 mm of rainfall during the last 24 hours.
Mercury in Qazigund — the gateway town to Kashmir Valley — settled at 0.4 degrees Celsius, as compared to 0.8 degrees Celsius the previous night.
The town received 22.2 mm of rainfall till 8:30 AM.
The mercury in the tourist resort of Pahalgam settled at a low of minus 0.2 degrees Celsius as against 0.2 degrees Celsius the previous night.
Gulmarg ski-resort
The famous ski—resort of Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 6.2 degrees Celsius, three degrees down from the previous night’s minus 3.2 degrees Celsius, the official said adding that the resort was colder than Leh town in the Ladakh region.
The mercury in Kokernag, in south Kashmir, went slightly down from the previous night’s minimum of minus 0.1 degrees Celsius to settle at a low of minus 0.5 degrees Celsius last night.
Kupwara, in north Kashmir, recorded a low of zero degree Celsius as against 0.4 degrees Celsius the previous night.
Leh, in the frontier region of Ladakh, recorded a low of minus 3.6 degrees Celsius, almost three degrees up from the previous night’s minus 6.4 degrees Celsius.
The mercury in the nearby Kargil town settled at a low of minus 9.4 degrees Celsius as compared to minus 10.2 degrees Celsius the previous night.
Kargil was the coldest recorded place in the state.
The MeT Department has said rainfall or snowfall may occur at isolated places of Kashmir division over the next 24 hours.
