3 killed in fog-related accidents; fresh snow in HP, U'khand

Three persons were killed in road mishaps due to dense fog that hit road and rail traffic in northern states even as a fresh spell of snowfall in parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand augmented wintry conditions.
A cold morning in Delhi gave way to a warm and sunny day. The city recorded a minimum of 9.3 and a maximum of 24.3 degrees Celsius.
Eighty trains were delayed while 49 trains were rescheduled due to foggy weather in the national capital and neighbouring states in the morning.
The blanket of fog brought down visibility levels. It was 800 meters at 5.30 AM and 400 meters at 8.30 AM at Safdarjung. It improved to 1500 meters as the fog dissipated toward the afternoon.

Two persons were killed in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh when a speeding motorcycle hit a woman, who was crossing the road in dense fog.
In another fog-related accident, a pedestrian was killed after he was hit by a bus on Bhopal-Indore highway in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh.

A number of places in Uttrakhand's Chamoli district, including the famous slopes of Auli and the Himalayan shrine of Badrinath, received fresh snowfall that intensified cold conditions in adjoining areas.
Clouds started gathering in the sky early in the day and it began to snow on the skiing slopes of Auli, Tungnath, Chopta, Rudranath and Badrinath by the afternoon causing a sharp fall in the temperature.

Dehradun woke up to a bright sunny morning but icy winds blowing from the mountains made it cold.
A fresh spell of snowfall in higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh intensified the cold weather in the state.
Strong velocity icy winds swept the region and sky remained heavily overcast and a palesun failed to warm it up.
Theog, Narkanda, Faguand Kufri recorded 5 cm of snow, while Khadrala in upper Shimla gauged 10 cm of rains. The adjoining valley areas were also lashed by showers.
The MeT office has forecast rains or snowfall in mid and higher hills for seven days starting today due to Western Disturbance as an upper air cyclonic circulation lies over north Afghanistan.

Cold conditions persisted in most parts of Rajasthan which was shrouded by dense fog early in the day. Chittorgarh was the coldest place in the state at 6.6 degrees Celsius.
In Punjab and Haryana too, fog affected normal life and the movement of rail and road traffic in Amritsar, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Faridkot, Hisar and Narnaul.
"Light rain or snow could occur at isolated places during
the next 24 hours followed by fairly widespread rain or snow on February 4 and 5 under the influence of western disturbance," a spokesman of the MET department said.
The minimum temperature today registered a slight drop at many areas in Punjab and Haryana even a fog reduced visibility at many places.

Hisar in Haryana was the coldest place in the state registering a low of 5.6 degrees Celsius. Karnal also had a cold night at 7 degrees Celsius, down one notch against normal.
Amritsar was the coldest place in Punjab, registering a low of 5.6 degrees Celsius. Ludhiana recorded a minimum temperature of 6.7 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal, while Patiala registered a low of 9.1 degrees Celsius, one notch above normal, a MeT Department official said.
In Rajasthan, Mount Abu was the coldest with a minimum temperature of 5 degrees Celsius. Sriganganagar recorded a minimum of 6.2 degrees Celsius, while the mercury in Alwar, Pilani, Phalodi, Churu and Dabok settled at 8.0, 8.1, 8.4, 9.2 and 9.9 degrees Celsius respectively, the MeT Department said.

The weatherman has predicted light rain in the western and eastern parts of the state.
Patna today witnessed a sunny afternoon after consecutive two days of foggy mornings across Bihar, with the MeT department predicting yet another early morning fog accompanied by chill.
The lowest minimum temperature in Bihar was recorded at 6 degrees Celsius in Supaul.
Among major cities in the state, Patna recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 8.7 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature was 22 degrees Celsius, a Met department official said.
Among the four major cities, Gaya recorded the highest maximum temperature at 23.6 degrees Celsius while Purnea and Bhagalpur recorded 22.1 and 21.6 degrees Celsius respectively.