Gopal Sharma
—Excelsior/Rakesh
JAMMU, Dec 18: The cold wave has gripped entire north region as the mercury started showing declining trend while the dense fog has badly affected the train and air traffic in the region in view of poor visibility since last evening.
With the mercury depleting down, Jammu’s temperature today remained 3 degree below normal while the day temperature in many plain areas of Jammu region also remained below normal from three to four degree Celsius. While Go Air flight No. 183 operating between Delhi and Jammu was cancelled due to dense fog and poor visibility conditions at Delhi and Jammu in the morning, the remaining 14 flights were also delayed in view of poor weather conditions and haze.
All the trains operating from various parts of the country arrived two to seven hours late at Jammu station while some trains were also rescheduled for the various destinations from here due to poor visibility and dense fog in parts of J&K, Punjab, Haryana, UP and Delhi.
A spokesman from Meteorological Department disclosed that Jammu’s day temperature was 17.3 degree Celsius, which is nearly 3 degree below normal temperature of 20 degree Celsius. He said minimum temperature in Jammu was 8.4 degree Celsius while in Srinagar minimum temperature was -1.2 degree C while maximum 14.9 degree C. In Leh the minimum temperature today was -11 degree C while maximum 8.2 degree C whereas, in Kargil the minimum temperature recorded was -7 degree Celsius whereas, the maximum temperature 4.2 degree Celsius.
At Katra Mata Vaishnodevi today’s day temperature was recorded as 17.8 degree Celsius while the night temperature remained 8.9 degree C. At Banihal in Jammu region, the night temperature was recorded as -7.0 degree C while the day temperature remained 16.3 degree Celsius. He disclosed that dense fog would continue to envelop plain areas of Jammu region while the clear weather conditions are predicted for the next two days in other areas of the State.
SP Airport Jammu Ashok Sharma disclosed that Go Air Flight between Delhi and Jammu had to be cancelled due to poor visibility at Delhi and Jammu airports while all other flights were delayed by two to three hours today. He said morning flights were badly hit in view of poor visibility due to dense fog since early morning. The departure timings of almost all the flights were also re-scheduled. The chopper service to Sanji Chhat from Katra base camp was also affected after 12.30 pm and could operate hardly for four hours today due to bad weather.
A Northern Railways spokesman said that all the trains were late by two to seven hours today in view of poor visibility and the departure time of a few trains operating from here was also rescheduled. He disclosed that Archna Express was seven hours late, Varanasi Express 6 hours, Kolkata-Jammu 4 hours, Bandra-Jammu, Rajdani Express, Utter Sampark Kranti three hours, Sarai Rohilla (Delhi) -Jammu 2.45 hours late, Jammu Mail and Hemkund Express two hours, while Shalimar Express two and half hours late today.
Meanwhile, due to dense clouds of fog in the plain areas, the vehicular traffic has also been affected. Many inter-state buses operating from Jammu station and other parts are also arriving late from Delhi, Chandigarh, parts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan in view of fog.
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