Mercury dips further in north India; -14.5 deg C in Kargil

Cold wave tightened its grip on north India today as mercury dipped further with Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir recording a low of minus 14.5 degrees Celsius and Amritsar in Punjab too reeling under sub-zero temperature.
In the national capital, wintry conditions continued to prevail with minimum temperature settling at 7.2 degrees Celsius, a notch below the season's average.
The maximum temperature was recorded at 19.2 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal.
Dense foggy conditions were witnessed in certain parts of the city which reduced the visibility to 200 meters at 8.30 AM and 700 meters at 11.30 AM. The visibility, however, improved to 3,000 meters at 2.30 PM.

In Jammu and Kashmir, mercury plummeted further due to light snowfall in higher reaches of Kashmir Valley yesterday and clear skies during the night.
Kargil in the frontier region of Ladakh was the coldest recorded place in the state with night temperature falling to minus 14.5 degrees Celsius, which was four notches below that of the previous night.

Srinagar, which recorded the coldest night of the season on December 21 at minus 5.6 degrees Celsius, witnessed a drop of almost four degrees in temperature against the previous night. The minimum temperature recorded in the summer capital was minus 4 degrees Celsius.

In Punjab, severe cold wave gripped Amritsar with the night temperature touching minus 0.2 degrees Celsius, four notches below normal limits. Ludhiana and Patiala recorded a low of 6 degrees Celsius and 7.3 degrees Celsius respectively.
Narnaul in Haryana once again turned out to be the coldest place in the state recording a low of 3.5 degrees Celsius. Hisar and Karnal also reeled under intense cold recording minimum temperatures of 5.5 degrees Celsius.
In Rajasthan, nine trains of North Western Railway were running late due to dense fog. Fog disrupted normal life in north-eastern parts of the state including in Dholpur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh as well.

In Punjab and Haryana, road and rail traffic remain
disrupted due to dense fog even as the minimum temperature rose in the region.
Narnaul in Haryana was the coldest place with a low of 4.5 degrees Celsius, one notch below normal. Hisar and Karnal braved cold weather at 6.3 degrees Celsius and 6.2 degrees Celsius, respectively, while Ambala's minimum was 9.3 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal.
Amritsar's minimum was 8 degrees Celsius, five notches above normal while Ludhiana and Patiala recorded their minimums at 5.3 degrees Celsius and 7.4 degrees Celsius respectively.
Chandigarh had a low of 9.2 degree Celsius, three degrees above normal.

In Rajasthan, winter intensified its grip with Sriganganagar reeling under 5.7 degrees Celsius even as dense fog affected road and rail traffic.
Churu followed Sriganganagar with a night temperature of 6.6 degrees Celsius.
Sikar, Mount Abu, Alwar, Dabok recorded minimum of 6, 7, 7.4 and 8.8 degrees Celsius, respectively, while Pilani, Jaipur, Kota and Jaisalmer registered minimum temperature of 9.5, 10.4, 13.2 and 13.8 degrees Celsius, according to the MeT department here.
The temperature in Bihar recorded an upward trend with maximum and minimum registering two degrees Celsius above normal at most places.
The lowest minimum temperature in the state was recorded at 10 degrees Celsius in Sabour of Bhagalpur district.

The maximum temperature of Patna was registered at 27.1 degrees Celsius and the minimum stood at 12.6 degrees Celsius.
The weatherman has predicted light rain across Bihar due to western disturbances in the next three-four days.
In Odisha, its most parts reeled under intense cold accompanied by chilly wind as the minimum temperature fell below 10 degrees Celsius in at least 11 places with 4.3 degrees Celsius, Daringibadi in Kandhamal district, being the coldest place in the state.
The state capital Bhubaneswar recorded a minimum of 13.1 degrees Celsius. Cold wave conditions are likely to prevail for some more days, according to MeT department officials.