Cold wave persists in north India; warm day in Delhi

Most parts of north India today witnessed cold conditions with mercury in Kargil town of Jammu and Kashmir plunging 21 degrees below freezing point to register the coldest night of the season in the state even as Delhiites experienced a sunny day after early morning chill.
After a chilly morning in Delhi with dense fog delaying 32 trains, the mercury soared as the day progressed settling at 24.5 degree Celsius, two notches above normal.
The minimum settled at 7 degrees Celsius, which was two notches below yesterday's 9.6 degrees Celsius. The humidity levels oscillated between 97 and 32 per cent.

In Jammu and Kashmir, minimum temperature at most places dropped with Kargil in Ladakh region recording a low of minus 21 degrees Celsius, a degree down from yesterday.
"This was the lowest temperature in Kargil this season and the town became the coldest place in Jammu and Kashmir this winter," a spokesperson of J&K's MeT department said.
Srinagar, the summer capital of J and K, recorded the minimum temperature of minus 1.9 degrees Celsius, a drop of over two degrees from 0.7 degrees Celsius the previous night.
There was no respite from the piercing cold wave conditions for the residents of Himachal Pradesh as well as minimum temperatures remained low across the state and maximum temperatures also dropped by one to three degrees.

While the high altitude tribal areas and mountain passes reeled under arctic conditions, thick ground frost occurred in mid and higher hills. Water pipes froze at many places in the morning hours.