North still reeling under cold, fog

Intense cold wave conditions swept across large swathes of North India on Saturday with the weather remaining mostly dry even as fog disrupted rail traffic in a few areas.

Residents in the national capital woke up to another cold morning with fog in the early hours disrupting rail traffic with at least 59 north-bound trains, including premier trains like Rajdhani and Duronto Express, running late by several hours.

The Met office said the maximum in the city settled at 18.3 degrees Celsius while the minimum was recorded at 7.2 degrees Celsius, which is normal for this part of the season.

The cold wave continued in Kashmir with minimum temperature hovering several degrees below freezing point.

A Met official said Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of minus 4.8 degrees Celsius against previous night’s minus 4.2 degrees. Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 3.1 degrees Celsius while Pahalgam was the coldest place in the Valley as the mercury settled at minus 6.6 degrees Celsius.

Leh recorded a minimum of minus 16.2 degrees while neighbouring Kargil recorded a low of minus 16 degrees Celsius.

Life was thrown out of gear in Uttar Pradesh as large parts of the state continued to shiver. Hamirpur district was the coldest place in the state at 4.2 degrees, according to the weather office.

DHNS & Agencies