Mercury up in northern plains; Rain in hills of Kashmir, HP

NEW DELHI:
Mercury maintained its upward trend in vast swathes of north India today while overnight rain brought down temperatures in some areas of Kashmir Valley and Himachal Pradesh.
In the national capital, partly cloudy sky condition prevailed this morning pushing the minimum temperature up to 15.2 degrees Celsius. The maximum settled three notches above the season’s average at 28.6 degrees. According to a MeT forecast, “Later in the evening, very light rain or thundershowers could occur in some parts of the capital.”
Temperatures also rose across Punjab and Haryana, giving some respite from cold weather conditions to the people. The minimum temperature in Chandigarh settled eight notches above the season’s average at 16.8 deg C, up from yesterday’s 14.5.
In Haryana, Ambala’s low settled at 15.7 degrees Celsius, seven notches above normal, while in Hisar it was 16 degrees. Amritsar in Punjab saw a minimum of 11.3 degrees, four points above normal while the minimums in Ludhiana and Patiala were recorded at 14.2 and 14.6 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Meanwhile, rain lashed Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir while the MeT Department predicted that “widespread rains or snow would occur in the State today and tomorrow with heavy falls at a few places.”
Mercury in Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar, which witnessed heavy rain since morning, went down slightly from the minimum of 6.2 degrees Celsius yesterday to settle at 5.9 degrees. The minimum in famous ski-resort Gulmarg settled at minus 0.2 degree compared to minus 0.8 degree yesterday. The resort received 2.6 mm rainfall during the night.
Qazigund on Srinagar-Jammu national highway recorded a low of 3.2 degrees Celsius, up from the previous night’s 2.6 degrees. The mercury in Kupwara, in north Kashmir, went up by a degree to settle at 3.1 degrees Celsius.
Leh, the frontier town in Ladakh region, recorded a low of minus 2.6 degrees as against the previous night’s minus 3.3 degrees. Kargil town registered a low of minus 4.4 degrees, down from the previous night’s minus 3.8 degrees Celsius. (AGENCIES)