A labourer warms himself by a bonfire at a roadside in Amritsar yesterday. Temperatures dropped across northern India, with New Delhi recording its coldest temperatures of the season.
IANS/New Delhi
It was a bitterly cold day in north India yesterday with the maximum temperature in the national capital dipping to 9.8 degrees Celsius, the lowest in 43 years.
The day was chilly and foggy in Delhi with the minimum temperature two notches below average at 4.8 degrees Celsius. It was this cold the last time in 1969.
The cold wave also pulled temperatures way below zero in Kashmir and Himachal and the fog hit air, train and road traffic in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.
A weather bureau official in Jammu and Kashmir said the minimum temperature fell to minus 3.9 degrees in Srinagar, minus 7.7 degrees in Pahalgam and minus 9.2 degrees in Gulmarg.
But the coldest town was Leh at minus 16.2 degrees. Kargil recorded minus 14.8 degrees.
The conditions would only get worse today before an improvement in night temperatures from tomorrow.
Himachal Pradesh, the other mountainous state, was sunny but the cold was biting.
Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti was the coldest place in the state with the minimum temperature at minus 8.9 degrees Celsius, a Met official said.
Kalpa in Kinnaur district saw a low of minus 3.6 degrees and Manali minus 3 degrees. Dharamsala was 4.6 degrees.
The minimum temperature was 2.1 degrees Celsius in state capital Shimla, down from Tuesday’s 4.8 degrees.
Despite a sunny day, the plains of Uttar Pradesh too continued to reel under extreme cold wave conditions.
The Met department said the inclement weather would continue for most part of the week, and there are good chances that fog may reappear.
In state capital Lucknow, the lowest temperature since Tuesday was 4.3 degrees while the maximum was 17 degrees.
The onset of north-westerly winds was likely to bring back the chill, the official said.