WEB DESK
ENTIRE North India is shivering as Cold weather continued to grip parts of North India today and a blanket of fog enveloped several areas of the region affecting road and rail traffic.
In Delhi, the mercury once again dipped to 4 degrees Celsius today morning.
This is the second time in three days that the mercury has plunged to 4 degrees Celsius — the lowest temperature in the last four years.
The fall in temperature is due to cold wave conditions prevailing over northwest India, the Meteorological Department said.
Cold wave conditions tightened grip in Kashmir as the mercury went down at most places last night, with Leh, in the Ladakh region, experiencing the coldest night of the winter so far.
Leh recorded a low of minus 15.8 degrees Celsius last night – over three degrees down from minus 12.7 degrees Celsius the previous night, MET officials said, adding it was the coldest night of the season in the frontier town.
The officials said the night temperature at most places in the Kashmir division went down last night as the cold conditions tightened grip in the valley and Ladakh region on the second day of ‘Chillai-Kalan’ – the 40-day harshest period of winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum and the temperature drops considerably.
Srinagar – the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir – recorded a low of minus 5.4 degrees Celsius last night – a notch down from the previous night, the officials said.
Delhi’s air quality also deteriorated to ‘severe’ category today as a cover of smog surrounded the national capital and prevented dispersion of pollutants, authorities said. This is fourth time this season that the air quality here has worsened to severe category.
The mercury dipped to zero degrees Celsius in Karnal today as the cold wave sweeping most parts of Haryana and Punjab for over a week continued unabated.
Karnal in Haryana recorded a low of zero degrees Celsius, seven degrees below the normal and the lowest in the two states, a Meteorological Department official said.
Among other places in Haryana, Hisar, Ambala and Narnaul shivered at 2.7, 4.6 and 2 degrees Celsius respectively, up to five degrees below the normal.
In Punjab, Adampur continued to be the coldest place in the state for the second consecutive day at 0.2 degrees Celsius.
In Himachal Pradesh, Tribal district Lahaul and Spiti’s administrative centre Keylong continued to be the coldest place in Himachal Pradesh with a minimum temperature of minus 8.8 degrees Celsius, the Meteorological (MeT) Department said on Saturday.
Cold wave conditions also gripped other parts of the state, causing the mercury to dip below the freezing point in Manali, Solan, Kalpa, Seobagh, Bhuntar and Sundernagar as well, the Met Centre Director Manmohan Singh said.