Cold wave grips Jammu as mercury continues to plunge

Nishikant Khajuria

A view of Jammu city during dense fog on Saturday morning                   -Excelsior/Rakesh
A view of Jammu city during dense fog on Saturday morning -Excelsior/Rakesh

JAMMU, Dec 20: Mercury continued to plunge further in Jammu intensifying cold wave in the region while fog led to poor visibility and resultant disruption in Rail traffic on Saturday even as chilly weather conditions failed to dampen spirit of polling for the last 20 Assembly seats today.
Maximum as well as minimum temperature on Saturday remained below normal and dipped further one degree Celsius than it was recorded yesterday. Today’s day temperature in Jammu was 11.4 degree Celsius and the minimum temperature was 4.8 degree Celsius.
Cloudy weather conditions and fog, particularly in the morning hours, led to disruption in Rail traffic as arrival of all the trains was late behind the scheduled time. However, there was no effect of bad weather on the Air traffic and all the flights were on time, official sources informed the Excelsior.
All the trains reached Jammu behind the scheduled time of arrival. Shalimar Express, Rajdhani, Bhathinda Express, Kranti, Delhi Sarai Rohilla, Pooja Express, Kolkata Express and Jammu Mail reached here two to three hours late. Some other trains, like Jhelum Express, Varanasi Express, Kanpur Express, Amarnath Express, Tata Moori and Andman Express were late by more than three hours and a few even six hours.
Shalimar Express reached at 7 am instead of 5.20 am scheduled time while Kranti Express and Pooja reached at 9.30 am and 10.15 am, respectively, instead of their schedule time 6.35 am and 8.10 am, respectively. Amarnath Express, which was scheduled to reach at 12.30 noon, reached at 5.30 pm while Kanpur Express was late by more than six hours.
According to the Metrology Department, the prevailing cold wave is likely to further intensify in the forthcoming days while light rain and snow may occur at isolated places in the region during the next twenty four hours.
Mercury registered a downward trend in Srinagar also where the maximum temperature on Saturday was 8.6 degree Celsius and minimum temperature was minus 4.6 degree Celsius. Yesterday, the day temperature was 11.4 degree Celsius while the minimum temperature was minus 4.2 degree Celsius.
As the day temperature in Jammu remained much below the normal, around 10 degree Celsius, cold wave gripped the entire region and people preferred to remain inside.