AGENCY
New Delhi: Cold conditions prevailed in north India with Leh in Jammu and Kashmir shivering at minus 13.2 degrees Celsius while dense fog affected road and rail traffic in the region, leading to cancellation of 70 trains.
Delhiites too experienced a slight chill in the air as overcast conditions prevailed in the national capital with foggy conditions in parts of the city.
While flight operations were normal, as many as nine Delhi-bound trains, including Guwahati Rajdhani and Poorva Express, were reported to be running late and 70 trains were cancelled due to fog. Visibility at 5:30 AM was 500 meter which improved to 700 meter at 8:30 AM. It then further improved to 1000 meters as the day progressed.
The maximum temperature settled at 19 degrees Celsius, a notch below the normal while the minimum temperature was recorded at 13.6 degrees, which is six degrees above normal for the season, said MeT department official.
The humidity in air oscillated between 96 and 69 per cent.
Cold conditions also prevailed in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan with mercury dropping by few notches.
Kashmir registered a slight improvement in night temperatures even though the mercury mainly stayed below zero degrees across the Valley.
The forecast by the Meteorological Department here is for mainly dry weather during the better part of ‘Chillai-Kalan’ — the 40-day harshest period of winter ending 31st January — thus suggesting that there will be little relief from the prevailing winter chill.
“The atmosphere is highly stable and the weather will continue to remain mainly dry for about 10 or more days,” Director, Meteorological Department, Kashmir, Sonam Lotus, told PTI here.
The mercury rose by nearly two notches in Kokernag to settle at a low of minus 0.4 degrees Celsius.
While the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees, Pahalgam had the mercury settle at minus 4.4 degrees.
In north Kashmir’s Kupwara, the minimum settled at minus 2.5 degrees, the official said.
Temperatures at Qazigund and Kargil towns in Kashmir division, settled at minus 2.8 degrees and minus 12.4 degrees, respectively, the official said.
The night temperature in Srinagar dropped slightly to settle at minus 2.9 degrees as against the previous night’s minus 2.5 degrees.
Leh at minus 13.5 degrees in the frontier region of Ladakh was the coldest place in Jammu and Kashmir.
In Rajasthan, fresh western disturbances led to partial revival of the cold wave conditions as mercury dipped by up to four notches, an MeT official said.
Mount Abu on the hills and Bikaner on the plains were the coldest places in the state last night with the lowest of 7 and 7.1 degrees Celsius respectively, the official said.
Jaipur woke up to cloudy weather as minimum temperature dipped to 9.8 degree Celsius.
Banasthali recorded minimum temperature of 7.1 deg Cel, Sikar 7.2 deg Cel, Sriganaganagar 8.2 deg Cel, Churu 8.7 deg, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur 9.8 deg each, Barmer 10, Udaipur 10.5, and Kota 12.9 deg Celsius.
Dense fog engulfed several places in the state reducing visibility on national highways and in farm areas like Sriganganagar, Bikaner and Churu.
As many as eight passenger trains of North Western Railway are running late by between 55 minutes to above 5 hrs due to foggy conditions in adjoining states of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, North Western Railway’s CPRO Tarun Jain said.
Shallow fog enveloped most parts of Punjab and Haryana even as the minimum temperatures in the region hovered above normal.
Chandigarh, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Karnal, Hisar, and Narnaul were engulfed in the fog, it said.
Rail and road traffic were adversely affected at few places in the region due to fog, the officials said.
The minimum temperatures hovered between 2-6 notches above normal in several parts of Punjab and Haryana, the MeT office said here.
In the plains, Amritsar was coldest with a low of 6 degrees Celsius, which is two notches above normal.
While Chandigarh had a low of nine degrees Celsius, the minimum temperatures at Hisar, Karnal and Patiala were an identical at 10.4 degrees Celsius, three notches each above normal.
The MeT forecast partly cloudy sky and possibility of shallow fog at several places in the region during the next 48 hours.
