Hisar recorded the coldest-ever New Year morning at -1.2 degree Celsius
Deepender Deswal
Tribune News Service
Hisar, January 1
Hisar recorded the coldest-ever New Year morning at -1.2 degree Celsius. This was -8 degrees Celsius below normal.
The freezing temperature came as a shocker for local residents as Hisar was colder than Manali, Himachal Pradesh—which recorded 1.8 degree Celsius—according to report by Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).
The IMD data indicated, that while the plains are in a severe grip of winter, the hilly areas have witnessed warmer weather, as the temperature in Manali was above normal by 2 degrees Celsius while Shimla recorded 6.8 degrees Celsius which is a departure of 4 degrees Celsius from normal.
Bathinda, in Punjab, also recorded -0.2 degree Celsius while Narnaul in Haryana was at 0.2 degree Celsius.
The region continues to be in the grip of a severe cold wave as the mercury remained sub-zero level continuously for the second day in Hisar.
Residents woke up to a chilly New Year morning, along with dense fog prevailing in the town and entire adjoining areas.
A blanket of frost in the field and grassy grounds gives a look of snowfall. The visibility was reduced to barely 4-5 meters on the highway.
The motorists have complained, that they have to drive with utmost caution due to low visibility.
Jaiveer Singh, a milkman who comes to Hisar from Rajli village to distribute milk, said that he almost took two hours to cover 20 km stretch on the Hisar-Kaithal highway.
“The vehicles were lined up and crawling at very low speed, and had to apply brakes every now and then to avoid collision with the front vehicle going on in a row”, he said.
The IMD web portal reveals that earlier, the lowest temperature on January 1 in Hisar was 1.6 degree Celsius in 2018. However, on January 31, 1929, the lowest temperature of -3.9 degree Celsius.
The maximum temperature of Hisar was 16.2 degree Celsius—which is below normal by -5 oC. The IMD predicted generally cloudy sky with one or two spells of rain or thundershowers from January 2 to January 5.
