Widespread snowfall in hills as north shivers

Northern India was fully in the grip of cold weather conditions today with widespread snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh even as a few places in the plain areas were hit by showers.
Delhi woke up for a second day to cloudy skies and hazy weather with chilly winds bringing down the mercury in the national capital.
The maximum temperature dropped four notches below normal to 17.4 degrees Celsius, but the minimum was recorded four notches above normal at 12.0 degrees. The city reported high humidity levels of between 98 and 88 per cent.
The weatherman has predicted clear skies tomorrow although fog is expected in the morning.

Further north, several parts of Kashmir Valley received snowfall and reported a relief from the intense cold as night temperatures stayed above freezing point.
Srinagar recorded 1.8cm of snowfall while the minimum in the city increased last night from -3.9 degrees Celsius to settle at a low of 0.3 degrees.

Qazigund received 13cm snow while the Pahalgam hill resort received 17cm snow and recorded a low of -2.4 degrees, a rise of over two degrees from the previous night's -5.6 degrees.
The ski resort of Gulmarg received 15cm snowfall.
The minimum also increased in Leh as the mercury touched -6.2 degrees, as against -12.4 degrees yesterday.

The forecast is for light rain or snowfall at a few places in the state with a decrease in precipitation over the coming two days.
In Himachal Pradesh, the tourist resorts of Shimla, Manali and Chail got the first snowfall of the season while the lower reaches were drenched by widespread heavy rain.
It was a white Sunday for Shimlaites with the entire town and its suburbs covered under a thin blanket of snow even as high velocity icy winds swept the area. Shimla, where it snowed in the third week of December after a gap of 21 years, received 10cm snow and recorded a minimum of 0.2 degrees.

High altitude areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur, Pangi and Bharmaur and adjoining valley areas reeled under the biting cold as the mercury dipped to stay between -8 and -16 degrees amidst intermittent snowfall.
Among the places where it rained, Kangra was the wettest with 55mm rainfall while Dharamsala and Chamba recorded 45mm and 40mm, respectively.