Cold wave, fog hit road, rail, air traffic

Chandigarh/Shimla/New Delhi, December 25

Cold wave and dense fog continued to prevail in North India, hitting road, rail and air traffic, but the hill stations in Himachal again woke up to a sunny day on Thursday.

Amritsar in Punjab was the coldest place in the state recording a minimum temperature of 3.2 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal, the MeT Department officials said.

Ludhiana and Patiala recorded near similar minimum temperatures at 7.2 deg C and 7.4 deg C.

With fog returning in Chandigarh, it recorded a minimum temperature of 6.6 deg C.

Narnaul in Haryana was the coldest place in the state recording a minimum temperature of 3.3 deg C, three notches below normal.

Karnal and Ambala also experienced the chill registering below normal lows of 5.8 deg C and 6.6 deg C, respectively.

Hisar recorded a cold night at 5.7 deg C.

During the past few days the day temperatures at Hisar have registered a sharp fall. On Wednesday, the town recorded a high of 10.4 deg C, which was twelve notches below normal, making it much colder than Shimla, where yesterday’s maximum settled at 13.6 deg C.

The day temperatures at most other places in Haryana and Punjab have been settling a few notches below normal.

In Delhi too, dense fog delayed 115 trains on Thursday.

An official of the Northern Railway said the arrival of 91 trains to the city was delayed, while 24 trains leaving the capital city were rescheduled due to dense fog.

The Met Office said the visibility slumped to 100 metres in the morning.

The minimum temperature of the day was 5 degrees Celsius, three notches below the season’s average.

“There was dense fog in the morning. The day is likely to be clear, but fog may return in the evening,” said the Met Department.

The day’s maximum temperature is likely to hover around 16 degrees Celsius.

Humidity at 8.30 a.m. was 91 per cent.

Wednesday’s minimum temperature settled at 5 degrees, three notches below the season’s average, while the maximum was 15.9 degrees Celsius, six notches below the season’s average.

In Uttar Pradesh, the mercury dropped at most places. Eighteen people died on Thursday due to intense cold taking the toll to 70.

Meanwhile, it was a sunny Thursday in Shimla and Manali, but the minimum temperature stayed close to or below the freezing point, weather officials said.

The state capital Shimla, with the night temperature at 3.7 degrees Celsius, woke up to a sunny day.

Popular destination Manali, which also had a crystal-clear sky, recorded a low of minus 3 degrees Celsius.

According to a Met Department official here, Shimla's nearby tourist spots such as Kufri, Fagu and Narkanda also experienced dry but cold weather.

Other picturesque tourist centre, Dalhousie in Chamba district, experienced a low of 4.6 degrees Celsius.

High-altitude areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Chamba, Mandi, Kullu, Kinnaur and Shimla districts have been experiencing temperatures below the freezing point, the official said.

Keylong in Lahaul-Spiti district was the coldest in the state with a low of 8.9 degrees below the freezing point.

It was minus 2.3 degrees Celsius in Kalpa, some 250 km from here, in Kinnaur district, while it was 5.2 degrees in Dharamsala.

The Met Office has forecast no snow or rain across the state till December 31.

Agencies