NEW DELHI, Feb 6: Most parts of north India today witnessed cold conditions with mercury in Kargil town of Jammu and Kashmir plunging 21 degrees below freezing point to register the coldest night of the season in the state even as Delhiites experienced a sunny day after early morning chill.
After a chilly morning in Delhi with dense fog delaying 32 trains, the mercury soared as the day progressed settling at 24.5 degree Celsius, two notches above normal.
The minimum settled at 7 degrees Celsius, which was two notches below yesterday’s 9.6 degrees Celsius. The humidity levels oscillated between 97 and 32 per cent.
In Jammu and Kashmir, minimum temperature at most places dropped with Kargil in Ladakh region recording a low of minus 21 degrees Celsius, a degree down from yesterday.
“This was the lowest temperature in Kargil this season and the town became the coldest place in Jammu and Kashmir this winter,” a spokesperson of J&K’s MeT department said.
Srinagar, the summer capital of J&K, recorded the minimum temperature of minus 1.9 degrees Celsius, a drop of over two degrees from 0.7 degrees Celsius the previous night.
There was no respite from the piercing cold wave conditions for the residents of Himachal Pradesh as well as minimum temperatures remained low across the State and maximum temperatures also dropped by one to three degrees.
While the high altitude tribal areas and mountain passes reeled under arctic conditions, thick ground frost occurred in mid and higher hills. Water pipes froze at many places in the morning hours.
In Punjab and Haryana, cold conditions continued to persist in most parts even though minimum temperatures hovered around normal levels.
Amritsar in Punjab was the coldest place in the region recording a low of 3 degrees Celsius, down by two degrees below normal. Among other places in Punjab, Ludhiana and Patiala braved cold weather at 4.8 degrees Celsius and 7 degrees Celsius respectively.
In neighbouring Haryana, Narnaul shivered at 4.5 degrees Celsius, one degree below normal. Ambala, Hisar and Bhiwani recorded their minimums at 7.7 degrees Celsius, 7.8 degrees Celsius and 10.6 degrees Celsius respectively.
Chandigarh, joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, recorded its minimum temperature at 7.4 degrees Celsius with the city witnessing bright sunshine in the morning.
In Uttar Pradesh, weather remained dry in the last 24 hours even as fog occurred at a few places with Muzaffarnagar recording the lowest minimum temperature at 4 degrees Celsius.
According to the MET department, night temperatures markedly fell in Lucknow division; fell appreciably in Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Faizabad, Moradabad, Meerut, Allahabad divisions; fell in Kanpur division and changed a little in remaining divisions of State.
Even as mercury dropped in other parts of north India, Rajasthan got some respite from the intense cold with night temperatures increasing marginally in some parts of the State.
Churu was the coldest place in the State with a minimum temperature of 6.5 degrees Celsius.
Dabok and Pilani recorded a low of 8.6 and 8.8 degrees Celsius respectively while Jaipur and Ajmer recorded minimum temperature of 10 degrees Celsius. Night temperature in other areas was 11-12 degrees Celsius. (PTI)
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