Cold wave intensifies in north India

New Delhi, December 20

Normal life was disrupted in several parts of north India as the cold wave continues unabated even after a week of snowfall in the hills of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Even the plains are reeling under severe cold with dense fog reported from most parts of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh during mornings and evenings.

Delhi experienced a chilly Saturday with maximum temperature five notches below the season's average at 17.5 degrees Celsius while fog early morning affected train movement. The weather is likely to remain similar on Sunday, the Met Office said.

"The sky will be partly cloudy tomorrow. Moderate to dense fog may occur in the morning," said an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 18 and 7 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature settled a notch below the average at 7.2 degrees Celsius while visibility at 8.30 am was 800 metres.

A Northern Railway official said 55 trains coming to Delhi were running late while 36 trains leaving the national capital were rescheduled due to fog. No train was cancelled.

Friday was similar with the maximum temperature settling six notches below the season's average at 16.4 degrees Celsius, while the minimum was 7.4 degrees Celsius, a notch below average.

Cold wave conditions continued unabated in Punjab and Haryana too throwing normal life out of gear with all flight operations being cancelled at the Chandigarh airport due to dense fog which reduced the visibility levels at several places in the region. All flights at Chandigarh airport were cancelled, an airport official said.

Many trains, including the Chandigarh-Delhi Shatabdi, Tata Mori, Paschim Express ran hours behind schedule. Dense fog reduced the visibility to less than 150 meters in Chandigarh and several others parts of Punjab and Haryana, the MeT office said.

Dense fog engulfed almost all major cities of the region, including Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala in Punjab and Hisar, Karnal and Ambala. The visibility levels in the region ranged between 50 to 350 meters only, the MeT office said.

Meanwhile, the MeT office warned that in the coming days too, visibility will remain at less than 200 metres in several parts of the region and it has also predicted that the current spell of fog is likely to continue for the next 3-4 days.

Narnaul in Haryana was the coldest place in the region as it recorded a minimum temperature of 4 degrees Celsius, down by two notches below normal.

Hisar and Karnal, in Haryana, had minimum temperature of 6.2 degrees Celsius and 6 degrees Celsius respectively, down by up to two notches below normal.

The low in Ambala settled at 6.9 degrees Celsius, while Bhiwani recorded a minimum temperature of 6.2 degrees Celsius.

In Punjab, Amritsar recorded a minimum of 4.1 degrees Celsius, while Ludhiana and Patiala recorded minimum temperature at 6.3 degrees Celsius and 6.5 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The MeT department has predicted partly cloudy weather with dense fog during morning and evening in both the states in next 24 hours. — Agencies