Cold grips north; nine killed in UP

Nine more people died in cold-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh taking the state-wide toll to 20 as temperatures fell drastically in Gorakhpur, Faizabad and Lucknow.

Three people died each in Azamgarh and Pratapgarh, two in Ballia and one in Balrampur as thick fog hit road and rail traffic at many places in the state. Agra with a minimum of 2.5 degrees Celsius was the coldest place in the state, the Met office said.

Meanwhile, reports from Punjab and Haryan said cold wave tightened its grip there too with mercury dipping down to five degrees Celisius, below normal at many places. Ambala turned out to be the coldest place in the region with the minimum temperature settling at 2.3 degrees Celsius, down by five notches.

Hisar and Karnal in Haryana had lows of 2.6 degrees Celsius and four degrees Celsius respectively, witnessing a fall of four degrees each.

Punjab shivers

In Punjab, Amritsar settled at 2.4 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal. Ludhiana and Patiala had lows of 4.1 deg Celsius and 5.2 degrees Celsius respectively.

On the other hand, in Rajasthan, mercury dipped further at many places with Churu recording a minimum of one degree Celsius.

Temperatures at other places were Sriganganagar (2.7), Pilani (3.2), Vanasthali (4.8) and Jaipur (6.8), the Met office said.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the cold intesified with the minimum temperature in capital Srinagar plunging to -4.3 degrees Celsius.

The drop in night temperature resulted in freezing of water supply lines in many areas in the summer capital.

Gulmarg, hill resort in north Kashmir, recorded a low of -8.2 degrees Celsius, while Pahalgam shivered at -6.6 degrees Celsius.

In the remote Leh district in Ladakh region, mercury plummeted to a low of -14 degree Celsius.

A moderate cold wave is sweeping north and western districts of West Bengal with Kolkata feeling the pinch as mercury slid to 12.2 degrees Celsius, the lowest this season.