Rains keep cold wave at bay

Scattered rains continued in some parts of north India giving respite to the people from the intense cold wave conditions even as the mercury dipped by a few notches in the Kashmir Valley after a short breather.
It was a pleasant day in Delhi as the minimum temperature settled at 12 degrees Celsius, five notches above the season's average. The city received scattered rain since yesterday. The maximum stood at 19 degrees, one notch below normal.
Foggy conditions prevailed in some parts of Delhi and Rajasthan, affecting train services. According to railway officials, a couple of trains were cancelled while several were running late.

Dense fog also disrupted rail and road traffic in Rajasthan, where the mercury dipped by one to five degrees Celsius at most places due to an upper air cyclonic disturbance passing through the state.
Churu on plains and Mount Abu on hills shivered at 4 degrees Celsius. Sikar recorded a minimum temperature of 5 degrees Celsius, followed by Pilani 5.4, Sriganganagar 7, Udaipur 8, and Ajmer 9.2 degrees Celsius.
State capital Jaipur was engulfed in thick fog till 10 am, and the city recorded a minimum temperature of 9 degrees Celsius, about five degrees less than the previous night.

Light to moderate rains continued in Punjab and Haryana. The Union Territory of Chandigarh, which received 7.1 mm of rains, recorded a minimum temperature of 11.2 degrees Celsius.

In Haryana, Ambala recorded a low of 10.3 degrees and rainfall of 4 mm. In Punjab, Amritsar registered a minimum of 6 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal. Ludhiana and Patiala, which were lashed by rains, recorded respective above normal minimum temperatures of 10 and 10.7 degrees.
Meanwhile, minimum temperatures in the Kashmir Valley dropped again after a day's respite. In Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, night temperature registered a drop of over two degrees from the previous night's low of minus 2.0 degrees Celsius to settle at minus 4.4 degrees.
Qazigund, the gateway town to the Kashmir Valley, marked a low of minus 3.8 degrees Celsius compared to minus 3.4 the previous night. The mercury in Pahalgam resort in south Kashmir registered a decrease of over three degrees from minus 3.0 degrees Celsius the previous night to settle at minus 6.4.

Minimum temperature in the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg settled at minus 5.6 degrees Celsius, down by over two degrees from the previous night.