Mercury dips in north India; bone-chilling cold in Kashmir, Himachal

The mercury took a dip in most parts of north India on Sunday with bone-chilling cold sweeping Kashmir, Ladakh and tourist destinations of Himachal Pradesh.

The national capital woke to a cold morning and maximum temperatures settled three notches below the normal at 16.7 degrees Celsius. The city recorded a low of 7 degrees Celsius.

The Kashmir Valley and Ladakh Union Territory continued to reel under sub-zero night temperatures with a layer of frost developing on roads, causing inconvenience to the people.

The night temperature continued to remain below the freezing point across Kashmir and Ladakh, a MeT official said.

Srinagar recorded the minimum temperature at minus 2.8 degrees Celsius, over a degree down from yesterday's minus 1.4 degrees Celsius, he said.

Leh in Ladakh recorded a low of minus 16.3 degrees Celsius -- down from minus 13.0 degrees Celsius the previous night.

Kashmir witnessed a sunny day though, bringing some relief to the residents, the official said.

Cold wave conditions persisted in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday with popular tourist hotspots in the state shivering at sub-zero temperatures, the MeT office said.

The minimum temperature decreased by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius across the state, Shimla MeT Centre Director Manmohan Singh said.

Kufri recorded a low of minus 4.6 degrees Celsius, followed by Manali (minus 4.4 degrees Celsius), Dalhousie (minus 2.4 degrees Celsius) and Shimla (minus 0.6 degrees Celsius).

Tribal district Lahaul-Spiti's administrative centre Keylong continued to be the coldest place in the state at minus 14.6 degrees Celsius.

Another tribal district Kinnaur's Kalpa recorded a low of minus 8.4 degrees Celsius.

The maximum temperature was 1 to 2 degrees Celsius below normal. The highest temperature in the state was recorded in Una at 21 degrees Celsius.

As per data recorded at 8.30 am on Sunday, Khadrala and Kothi received 5 cm snowfall each, followed by Bijahi 3 cm, Chhatarari 2 cm, Theog and Sarahan 1 cm each.

Besides, Shimla received 0.8 cm snowfall, whereas Kalpa got 0.6 cm snowfall in the last 24 hours, Singh said.

Sujanpur Tira received 25 mm rain, followed by Sundernagar 23 mm, Dehra Gopipur 14 mm, Nadaun 9 mm, Mandi 8 mm, Kahu and Mehre 7 mm each, Palampur 6 mm, Pandoh 5 mm, Solan and Hamirpur 4 mm each, Berthin, Banjar and Jubbal 3 mm each, Naina Devi, Nagrota Suriyan Bharari, Guler, Aghar, Una and Bhuntar 2 mm each in last 24 hours.

Punjab and Haryana were in the grip of cold wave conditions on Sunday, with the minimum temperature hovering below normal at most places.

In Punjab, Adampur was the coldest place recording a minimum temperature of 3.8 degrees Celsius.

Ludhiana (6.7 deg C), Patiala (7.6 deg C), Halwara (7 deg C), Bathinda (5.3 deg C), Faridkot (4 deg C) and Gurdaspur (8.1 deg C) experienced cold night, a meteorological department official said here.

In Haryana, Hisar (5.3 deg C), Ambala (6.2 deg C), Karnal (6 deg C), Narnaul (5.5 deg C), Rohtak (6.2 deg C), Bhiwani (6.1 deg C) and Sirsa (5.2 deg C) also experienced cold night.

Chandigarh registered a night temperature of 6.6 degrees Celsius.

The MeT official said fog reduced visibility in the morning hours at Ambala, Hisar, Karnal, Narnaul, Bhiwani, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala.

Night temperatures were 2 to 3 notches below normal as cold weather conditions intensified in Rajasthan over the last 24 hours, the meteorological department said.

Sikar was the coldest place in the state with a minimum temperature of 2.5 degrees Celsius, followed by Churu where the night temperature was 4.4 degrees Celsius.

Pilani, Ganganagar, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur recorded lows of 4.5, 5, 6.3, 7.3 and 7.5 degrees Celsius respectively.

In Uttar Pradesh, cold day conditions occurred at isolated places over the western part of the state.

State capital Lucknow recorded a minimum temperature of 11.7 degrees Celsius and a high of 18.2 degrees Celsius.

Muzaffarnagar was the coldest place in the state, where mercury fell to 6.1 degrees Celsius, followed by Meerut and Etawah, with both the places recording a minimum temperature of 6.8 degrees Celsius.