Severe cold wave sweeps Haryana, Punjab; two killed

Severe cold wave swept across most parts of Punjab and Haryana, affecting normal life and leading to the death of two people.
Minimum temperatures dipped remarkably across the two states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh that remained engulfed in fog.
Police recovered two unidentified bodies in Ambala City and Ambala Cantt, and said the severe chill led to their death.
A body was found near an abandoned house, which the person was using as a night shelter on the Jalbera Road in the city this afternoon. Another body was found in Railway Colony. He, too, apparently died due to severe cold conditions.

Most parts in both the states and capital city of Chandigarh continued to reel under piercing cold wave with a thick blanket of fog affecting visibility.
Chandigarh recorded a maximum of 11 degrees C, ten notches below normal level and minimum at 5.1 degrees Celsius.

Maximum temperature in Ambala was recorded at 13.4 degrees Celsius, followed by Hisar (15.5), Amritsar (13.4), Ludhiana (15) and Patiala (15.6).
Narnaul in Haryana was coldest and recorded Mercury at 2 degrees Celsius, three notches than normal, the MeT Department said here.
Minimum temperatures in Amritsar in Punjab settled at 4.8 degrees C. Ludhiana and Patiala recorded near similar minimum temperatures at 6.4 deg C and 6.7 deg C.

Karnal and Ambala in Haryana also experienced the chill registering below normal lows of 6 deg C and 5.9 deg C, respectively.
Hisar also had a cold night at 5.1 deg C.
The weather department said thick fog, which adversely affected normal movement of road, rail and air traffic for the past several days, prevailed at most places in the two states.