North gets slight respite from cold

Rainfall in the northern states brought respite to the biting cold, with the minimum temperature considerably improving in many places. 

Kashmir and Ladakh up north witnessed the night temperature easing by at least three degrees in many places, even as the Met office announced rains and snowfall in isolated places in the higher reaches in the next 24 hours. 

 A MeT department official said minimum temperature in Srinagar settled at minus 2.0 degrees Celsius, more than three degrees above the previous night’s 5.4.  The minimum night temperature in Pahalgam hill resort in south Kashmir improved from the previous night’s minus 7.6 degree Celsius to settle at a low of 3.0 degrees while the mercury in ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir settled at 3.0 degrees Celsius against 4.8 degrees the previous night.

Leh in Ladakh recorded a minimum temperature of minus 13.6 degrees Celsius, against previous night’s 17.1 degrees, the MeT official said. The nearby Kargil town recorded a low of minus 16.4 degrees Celsius as against the previous night’s minus 16.1 degrees, remaining the coldest place in Jammu & Kashmir.  The official said minimum temperature in Jammu was 8.8 degrees Celsius on Saturday against 6.6 the previous night.

In the national capital, the minimum temperature rose by seven notches settling above the season’s average at 13.8 degrees Celsius and reducing the gap with the maximum to three degrees, resulting in a considerably warmer day for Delhiites.According to a Northern Railway official, 41 trains coming to the capital were running late, four were rescheduled and Purba Express was cancelled.

However, flight operations at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here were smooth.

Similar weather conditions prevailed in Punjab and Haryana, where too the gap between minimum and maximum temperatures reduced in several parts following rains.