North India continues to reel under severe cold wave conditions with fog adversely affecting rail traffic resulting in delay of 45 trains today even as weatherman forecasted snowfall in Kashmir Valley and Himachal Pradesh in next few days.
The lowest minimum temperature in the plains was recorded at Rajasthan's Churu at 4.4 degrees Celsius, where 0.4 mm rainfall occurred.
Wintry conditions prevailed in the national capital with the minimum temperature settling at 7 degrees Celsius, a notch below the normal, while morning fog resulted in cancellation of five trains and delayed 45 others.
The maximum temperature was recorded at 19.8 degrees, also a notch below the season's average, a MeT Department official said.
The visibility was recorded at 1,200 mt at 5.30 AM at Safdarjung which after three hours dropped to 400 mt. It improved to 800 mt at 11.30 AM and improved significantly to 1,500 mt at 2.30 PM.
At Palam, the visibility was constant at 300 mt both at 5.30 and 8.30 AM. It improved to 1200 mt at 2.30 PM.
Early morning fog disrupted rail services with 45 north-bound trains running late and 23 being rescheduled and five others cancelled, according to a senior railway official.
Cold wave conditions continued unabated in most parts of Punjab and Haryana with fog adversely affecting air, rail and road traffic in the two states.
Hisar in Haryana was the coldest place in the two states a minimum temperature of 4.5 degrees Celsius, three degrees below normal.
Ambala, Karnal and Narnaul shivered at 8, 4.8 and 8.6 degrees Celsius respectively.
In Chandigarh, minimum temperature was recorded as 6.7 degrees Celsius, one notch above normal, it said.
Amritsar experienced the cold weather at 7.1 degrees Celsius, while Ludhiana and Patiala recorded their minimums temperatures at 7.6 and 7.4 degrees Celsius respectively.
Areas affected due to dense fog were Chandigarh, Hisar, Ludhiana and Amritsar among others.
Kashmir Valley is bracing for another spell of wet weather as rains or snow have been forecast for the next six days. The region is likely to be hit by a fresh western disturbance tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the night temperature across the Valley and Ladakh region continued to settle below freezing point.
Srinagar recorded the minimum of minus 3.3 degrees Celsius, down by two notches from the previous night's minus 0.9 degrees Celsius.
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