Mild cold conditions prevail in north

Mild cold conditions continued in northern plains with the mercury dipping marginally today even as Kashmir Valley reeled under temperatures below the freezing point.
In the national capital, it was a pleasant morning with minimum temperature settling at 8.3 degrees Celsius, one notch below yesterday's 9.3 degrees.
The maximum in the capital stood at 24 degrees Celsius, one notch above normal for this time of the season, according to the MeT department.
According to a Northern Railway official, seven north- bound trains were running behind schedule due to shallow fog in morning hours.
Mercury also dropped by a few notches in several parts of Punjab and Haryana, with Amritsar reeling under the lowest temperature in the region. It recorded a minimum of 4.8 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal.

Minimums in Ludhiana and Patiala settled at 9.8 and 8.6 degrees Celsius, respectively. In Haryana, Hisar, Karnal, Narnaul and Bhiwani recorded below normal minimums at 6.5, 5.6, 6.5, and 8.8 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The Union Territory of Chandigarh had a low of 10.2 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal.
In Jammu and Kashmir, Kargil in the frontier region of Ladakh continued to be the coldest recorded place even though the minimum temperature there appreciated by over a degree.
The night temperature in Kargil improved from the previous night's minus 18.4 degrees to settle at minus 17.0.
In Leh, the minimum was minus 13.6 degrees. The minimum temperature recorded in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, was minus 1.0 degree Celsius.

Pahalgam hill resort in south was the coldest recorded place in Kashmir with a minimum of minus 8.8 degrees Celsius.
North Kashmir's famous ski resort of Gulmarg marked an improvement in the night temperature which settled at minus 5.6 degrees compared to minus 7.2 degrees the previous night.