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North India Cold Wave
The winter chill intensified in most parts of north India on Wednesday as night temperatures in the Kashmir Valley dipped in most parts to settle below zero degrees, while it inched closer to the freezing point even in parts of Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. The national capital, however, saw a brief respite from the bitter cold during the day and saw a sunny afternoon and higher daytime temperatures. In Himachal Pradesh, the weather department issued a yellow warning for a cold wave, ground frost and dense fog for some places in five of the 12 districts in the state -- Una, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra and Mandi. Due to a western disturbance, there is a possibility of rain and snowfall in parts of northwest India later in the week, the weather office said. The India Meteorological Department said in its Wednesday bulletin that minimum temperatures are likely to fall by about 2 degrees Celsius in northwest India during the next 24 hours and a gradual rise by 2-4 degrees thereafter.
Cold weather conditions continued in several areas of Punjab and neighboring Haryana, with Faridkot being the coldest place in the region, recording a minimum temperature of 0 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, officials said. Faridkot has been experiencing severe cold for the past few days, making it the coldest place in Punjab. According to the Meteorological Department's daily weather report, Amritsar recorded a minimum temperature of 2.6 degrees, while Ludhiana and Patiala both registered minimums of 4.8 degrees Celsius. Piercing cold swept Pathankot, which recorded a low of 2.8 degrees. Bathinda and Gurdaspur shivered at 3 degrees and 3.5 degrees respectively. Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, recorded a low of 6.6 degrees Celsius. In Haryana, Hisar was the coldest place, recording a minimum of 1.6 degrees Celsius, while Sirsa was also affected by severe cold, with a low of 2.6 degrees Celsius. Karnal experienced a cold night, recording a low of 4.6 degrees, while R