Slight rise in temp in Pb, Har, JK; mercury dips in Delhi

There was marginal rise in minimum temperatures in Northern states today though mercury dipped by three notches below normal in the national capital.
At least 12 trains of North Western Railway were running late due to fog in the Northern region, a Railways official said.
Minmum temperature in New Delhi dropped three notches below season's average to settle at 5.4 degrees Celsius.
The moisture content grew from 46 to 94 during the day.
In Kashmir, the minimum temperature increased at most places providing some relief to the residents. The local MeT office has predicted mainly dry weather for next few days.

Kargil was the coldest place in the state at minus 14.2 deg C. Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of minus 0.6 deg C.

Pahalgam, which serves as a base camp for the annual Amarnath Yatra in south Kashmir, registered a low of minus 2.7 deg C against previous night's minus 7.3 degrees Celsius.
Similarly, the minimum temperatures rose in Kupwara, Kokernag, Leh -- 1.5 deg C, minus 1.9 deg C, minus 12.6 degrees Celsius respectively.
In Rajasthan, severe cold wave conditions improved a little. The mercury rose by one to five degrees Celsius at most places in the state due to abatement in north-westerly cold winds since yesterday, a MeT report said.

12 trains of North Western Railway were running late in Rajasthan from 30 mts to 14 hours due to fog in neighbouring states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Delhi, its CPRO and DGM Tarun Jain said.
Haryana and Punjab continued to remain in the grip of cold conditions though there was a slight rise in minimum temperatures recorded across the two states.
Local MeT office said Narnaul in Haryana, which was the coldest in the plains yesterday at 1.8 degrees Celsius, today recorded a low of 3.9 deg Celsius, which was within the normal levels.
Minimum in the Union Territory of Chandigarh also rose by a couple of notches to settle at 8 deg C.

He said the city witnessed a drop of a degree in the
night temperature which settled at a minimum of minus 1.9 degree Celsius.
He said the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg recorded 1.2 mm of snow and the mercury there settled at a low of minus 10.2 degrees Celsius.
Leh in the frontier region of Ladakh was the coldest recorded place in the state with a low of minus 13.7 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, North Western Railway rescheduled Jodhpur-Varanasi train while nine others including Howrah-Jodhpur/Bikaner and Varanasi-Jodhpur are running late due to fog in the northern region.
In Punjab and Haryana, a thick blanket of fog disrupted normal life at most places in both the states, where the minimum temperature hovered above normal.

Fog reduced visibility at several places including Bathinda, Gurdaspur, Faridkot and Amritsar in Punjab and at Ambala, Panchkula and Karnal in Haryana, a MeT Department official said here.
Visibility levels were low due to fog early today at Chandigarh also, the common capital of the two states.
Hisar in Haryana had a cold night at 3.6 degrees Celsius, which was three degrees below normal.
In Punjab, Amritsar recorded a low of 5 degrees Celsius, two notches more than normal.
Ludhiana registered a low of 6.6 degrees Celsius while Patiala's minimum settled at 7.5 degrees Celsius.
In Bihar, the mercury continued to maintain a rising trend with residents of the state capital witnessing a sunny day.

As per the Met bulletin, the state capital today registered a minimum temperature of 9.4 degrees Celsius.
Cold wave continued to keep its grip tight over Odisha with the lowest temperature being recorded at 6.8 degrees Celsius at Phulbani as normal life was severely hit in many parts of the state.