Cold claims four lives in North India

Four persons died due to extreme cold in North India where temperatures plummeted and fog disrupted normal life.

In capital Delhi, the maximum temperature was recorded at 18.3 degrees Celsius, two less than normal and the minimum temperature was 7.8 degrees celsius.

The Kashmir Valley is witnessing unusually sunny weather for this time of the year, but the night temperature continues to hover several degrees below freezing point.

The minimum temperature recorded in Srinagar was minus 2.9 degrees Celsius compared to yesterday's minus 1.8 degrees Celsius. The summer capital recorded the season's low of minus 4 on Sunday.

The MET spokesman said Kargil in frontier region of Ladakh was the coldest place in the state with a low of minus 15.4 degrees Celsius.

The nearby town of Leh, also in the cold desert of Ladakh, was freezing at a low of minus 13.8 degrees Celsius, the spokesman said.

He said Gulmarg recorded a minimum of minus 7 degrees Celsius followed by Pahalgam (minus 6.8), Kupwara (minus 3.7), Qazigund (minus 3.2) and Kokernag (minus 2.1).

One person succumbed to severe cold wave conditions in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab.

Opinder Bedi, a resident of Jharkhand, died due to severe cold at Tanda yesterday.

In Uttar Pradesh, three persons died in the past 24 hours taking the toll this season to 21.

One death each was reported in Lalitpur, Gorakhpur and Muzaffar Nagar, official sources said here today.

Lowest temperature in the state was 3.2 degree Celsius recorded at Fatehgarh.

According to the Met office, maximum temperatures were below normal by 6 to 11 degree Celsius over many parts of the state.

While cold day conditions prevailed, weather was mainly dry over the state.

Night temperatures fell markedly in Allahabad division, fell appreciably in Jhansi division and changed little over elsewhere, Met officials said.

For the next 24 hours, cold day conditions would continue to prevail while dense fog (visibility upto 100 metre or less) would occur over some parts of the state, they said.

Cold wave tightened its grip over Punjab and Haryana with the mercury dropping to as much as five notches below normal in various parts of the region.

Bone-chilling cold weather disrupted normal life in the two states while poor visibility due to the dense fog saw train and flight schedules hit by long delays and even cancellation of services. The fog also affected road traffic, causing inconvenience to commuters.

The MeT department said that foggy conditions would for now continue to prevail in various parts of Punjab and Haryana.

Narnaul in Haryana remained the coldest place in the region with the MeT office today reporting a minimum temperature of one degrees Celsius, five notches below normal.

Cold wave conditions gripped Rajasthan also with mercury plummeting across the desert state.

Churu recorded the lowest temperature of 2.5 degrees celsius followed by Sriganganagar at 4.1 degrees.

In the hilly region, Mount Abu recorded 2.4 degrees celsius, according to the Met department here.

Pilani, Chittorgarh, Bikaner, Dabok and Jaipur recorded minimums of 3.7, 5.3, 6.1, 6.5 and 6.8 degrees celsius respectively.