Cold conditions unabated in North

Cold wave conditions continued unabated across North India despite marginal rise in mercury in several places with Kullu-Manali region of Himachal Pradesh remaining without power and water supply for seventh day in a row on Friday.

Most parts of Himachal Pradesh groaned under arctic conditions. Normal life remained crippled in Kullu-Manali region as water and electricity supply and other services could not be restored for the seventh day.

National Highway-21 was blocked beyond Manali due to heavy snow and 83 roads in interior areas of Kullu district were still closed.

High-altitude tribal areas and other high mountain passes reeled under piercing cold wave conditions as the mercury stayed between minus 15 and minus 20 degrees Celsius. Dharamsala recorded a minimum of 4.8 degrees and Shimla 6.4 degrees Celsius.

Cold conditions continued in Punjab and Haryana where a heavy blanket of fog affected vehicle movement at several places. Narnaul in Haryana was the coldest place in the region as it recorded a minimum temperature of 3.5 degrees, three notches below normal.

In Punjab, Amritsar’s low settled at 3.6 degrees Celsius while Ludhiana and Patiala recorded a minimum temperature of 7.8 degrees Celsius and 8 degrees Celsius, respectively. Chandigarh’s low settled at 7.8 degrees Celsius.

Mercury rose slightly at most places in Rajasthan though Mount Abu recorded a minimum temperature of 3 degrees Celsius. Udaipur recorded a minimum of 5 degrees C, about 2 degrees more than the previous night. Jaipur’s minimum temperature too touched 7.4 degrees Celsius.

In Kashmir, night temperatures rose by two degrees in Ladakh region. A Met department official said there was no change in night temperature in Srinagar as the mercury settled at minus 4.2 degrees Celsius. Pahalgam was the coldest place in the Valley with a low of minus 7.2 degrees Celsius, against previous night’s minus 6.6 degrees, he said and added Gulmarg recorded a minimum of minus 2.6 degrees Celsius, compared to the previous night’s minus 2.3 degrees.

Leh continued to be the coldest in the state with a minimum temperature of minus 12.5 degrees Celsius, an increase of two degrees from previous night’s minus 14.6 degrees, followed by Kargil recording a low of minus 12.1 degrees Celsius, an increase of over two degrees from minus 14.4 degrees the previous night.

In Odisha, mercury dropped to single digit at several places, including Kandhamal and Sundergarh districts. Phulbani, Kandhamal district headquarters, recorded the minimum temperature of only 2 degree Celsius followed by 4.9 in Sundergarh in western Odisha Sundergarh district, 5.5 in Daringibadi in Kandhamal district and 7.3 degree Celsius in Keonjhargarh, Keonjhar district’s headquarters.

The minimum temperature in capital city Bhubaneswar was 11.9 degree Celsius.
In Uttar Pradesh, temperatures recorded a sharp decline at several places even as cold related deaths went up to 30.

Lucknow was the coldest with the minimum temperature plummeting to 8.8 degree.
A dense fog engulfed large parts of the state on Friday reducing the visibility to barely a few meters adversely impacting air, train and vehicular traffic, reports said.

While long distance trains were running several hours behind schedule, air traffic was also affected with the landings and take-offs were delayed owing to poor visibility, reports said.

Ten people, including women and children were killed in three separate road accidents in different parts of the state on Friday. The accidents were reportedly occurred in dense fog, sources said.