Amritsar colder than Manali, Chandigarh's day temperature lower than Shimla

There was no let up in the cold wave sweeping across parts of Haryana and Punjab on Monday, with Amritsar's day temperature being lower than Manali and Chandigarh turning out to be colder than Shimla.

Fog reduced visibility in most parts of the two states and common capital Chandigarh in the morning. In view of the severe cold and foggy weather conditions, Punjab's Education Department changed timings of government, aided and private schools with effect from Tuesday.

"The timings of the primary schools would be from 10 am-3 pm while those of the Middle/High/Senior Secondary schools would be from 10 am-4 pm. The timings of the schools having double shifts have not been changed," an official statement said here.

Amritsar in Punjab recorded a day temperature of 10.4 degrees Celsius, nine notches below normal limits. Manali in Himachal Pradesh recorded a maximum temperature of 10.8 degrees Celsius, according to the Meteorological Department here.

Similarly, Chandigarh recorded a high of 12.7 deg C, down eight notches against the normal, making it even colder than Shimla, which recorded a high of 14.1 deg C.

Ambala (11.5 deg C), Karnal (11.4 deg C), Patiala (11 deg C) and Ludhiana (11.6 deg C) were among the other places in the two states which recorded below-normal maximums.

The minimum temperatures too hovered a few notches below the normal at many places.

Narnaul was the coldest place in Haryana at 1.7 degrees Celsius. In Punjab, Bathinda was the coldest at 4.4 degrees Celsius.

Among other places in Haryana, Sirsa (5.3 deg C), Rohtak (7 deg C), Bhiwani (6.1 deg C), Hisar (6.8 deg C), Karnal (7.5 deg C) and Ambala (6.9 deg C) also experienced a cold night.

Amritsar (5 deg C), Gurdaspur (5 deg C), Faridkot (5.5 deg C), Ludhiana (7.7 deg C), Patiala (7.7 deg C) in Punjab too experienced a cold night, but minimums at Adampur (8.9 deg C) and Pathankot (8.6 deg C) settled within normal limits.

Chandigarh recorded a low of 9.1 degrees Celsius.