Chill prevails in hills; respite in Delhi

Temperature rose marginally in most parts of North India as Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan experienced a pleasant and sunny day on Monday but the winter chill prevailed in Kashmir Valley and higher parts of Uttarakhand, which received another spell of snowfall.

In Delhi, the maximum temperature was 23.8 degree Celsius, two notches above normal. The minimum this morning was 10 degrees, two degrees above normal.A sunny day was experienced in the national capital after cold winds in the morning. At least 20 trains were delayed due to morning fog.

There was a let up in the cold wave conditions in several parts of Punjab and Haryana. Chandigarh recorded 12.2 degrees, five notches above normal, a MeT department report said.  Amritsar’s low settled at 7.8 degrees, three degrees above normal. In neighbouring Haryana, Ambala’s low settled at 12 degrees, five degrees above normal.

Over a month-long cold wave abated in Rajasthan as mercury shot up  in the state. Udaipur district remained the coldest place in Rajasthan with minimum temperature of 9.2 degree Celsius.  Jaipur experienced strong winds and its minimum temperature settled at 13 degree Celsius last night.

With fresh rain and snowfall lashing Kashmir, the Srinagar-Jammu National highway remained closed for second consecutive day on Monday. Hundreds of vehicles, mostly goods laden trucks, are stranded on the highway and their forward journey on Tuesday would be subject to improvement in weather conditions.

The famous ski-resort of Gulmarg recorded more than one-and-a-half feet snow. The MeT department has forecast more snow over the next 24 hours across the Valley.

A MeT department spokeswoman said that Pahalgam hill resort, which serves as the base camp during Amarnath yatra, recorded a jump of nearly three degrees in the mercury from the previous night’s low of minus 3.4 degrees. It settled at minus 0.6 degrees Celsius.

Srinagar recorded 2.5 cms of snow and the minimum temperature  settled at a low of minus 1.0 degrees Celsius.