NEW DELHI, Dec 31: Weather remained relatively warm acrosss North India today except Jammu and Kashmir although mercury dipped marginally in most parts on the last day of the year which dawned with a blanket of thick fog covering vast swathes, including Uttar Pradesh where three persons died in road accidents caused by poor visibility.
In the national capital, residents woke up to a foggy morning with the minimum temperature being recorded at 8.2 degrees Celsius. Yesterday, it stood at 8.5 degrees.
The visibility was recorded 400 metres at 5.30 AM and 600 metres at 8.30 AM, MeT officials said here.
After a brief let-up in the past few days, people in Uttar Pradesh were greeted with chill in the air this morning with heavy fog engulfing some parts of the State. Muzaffarnagar recorded the State’s lowest temperature at 4.1 degrees Celsius.
Poor visibility in Lucknow and a few other districts affected road and rail traffic. Three persons were killed in separate road accidents caused by poor visibility.
Two school children were killed as vehicle carrying them rammed into a stationary truck in Tarwa area of Azamgarh and a 28-year-old woman was fatally hit by a speeding vehicle while she was crossing the road in Haldi area of Ballia.
Cold wave continued to sweep Haryana and Punjab, with the mercury hovering well below normal levels. Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, experienced a cold night at 5.8 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal level.
In Haryana, Hisar and Karnal recorded identical minimum temperatures of 3.5 degrees Celsius, while Narnaul registered a low of 5.2 degrees Celsius.
Amritsar in Punjab also reeled under cold wave. The night temperature in the holy city settled at 3.3 degrees Celsius. Ludhiana reeled under 4.3 degrees Celsius, while Patiala’s night temperature settled at 6.1 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, mercury continued its free fall in Kashmir division as Leh in Ladakh region recorded the coldest night this winter with a minimum temperature of minus 16.3 degrees Celsius.
“Leh was the coldest recorded place in the State at minus 16.3 degrees Celsius, down from yesterday’s minus 13.2 degrees Celsius. This was the coldest temperature recorded this winter in the State,” a MeT department official in Jaipur said.
Kargil also recorded extreme sub-zero temperature of minus 14.6 degrees Celsius.
Gulmarg in north Kashmir remained the coldest recorded place in the Valley with a low of minus 7.6 degrees. Pahalgam hill resort in south Kashmir recorded a low of minus 6.7.
The minimum temperature dropped by nearly a degree in Srinagar city as the mercury settled at minus 4.0 against yesterday’s minus 3.3 degrees Celsius. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel