Cold wave intensifies in north India, dense fog at many places

The current spell of cold wave has left 491 people dead, with Uttar Pradesh alone accounting for 462 victims.Night temperature slipped to 3.6 degrees C, 4.4 deg C below normal in Jammu, against 4.6 deg C yesterday.

Banihal continued to be the coldest place in Jammu and Kashmir with a minimum of 2 deg C. In frontier region of Ladakh, Kargil recorded a low of minus 12.8 deg C, while Leh recorded a minimum of minus 10.8 deg C.

In Kashmir valley, Srinagar, recorded a low of minus 1.3 deg C, against minus 2.9 deg C yesterday.Pahalgam, a hill resort in south Kashmir, was the coldest place in the state with a low of minus 3.7 deg C, against minus 4 deg C yesterday.

Minimum temperature dipped by up to five degrees below normal in parts of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.Amritsar was the coldest place at minus 1.2 deg C, while Ludhiana and Patiala had a low of 5.7 deg C and 6.4 deg C. Chandigarh recorded a low of 6.8 deg C and Ambala 4.6 deg C.

High altitude areas of Himachal Pradesh reeled under intense cold conditions due to sub-zero temperature though the weather remained pleasant in Shimla, the Queen of Hills, in the absence of rain or snow.

Keylong, headquarters of Lahaul & Spiti district, was the coldest place in the state with night temperature of minus 9.6 deg C, while Kalpa in Kinnaur district had a low of minus 3.6 deg C. In the national capital, visibility dropped to 100 metres this morning as a result of which many trains were late by several hours.

At the IGI airport, runway visibility dropped to 75 metres in the wee hours, disrupting schedules of over 70 domestic and international flights, giving passengers a harrowing time.

Chaotic scenes were witnessed at the railway stations too as eight trains, including the Lucknow Shatabdi and Shan-e- Punjab Express, were cancelled and over 20 others ran late.

The dense fog will continue for the next five to six days due to "unstable weather conditions" and high humidity level, a Met official said.

The minimum temperature in the city was recorded at 7.4 deg C today, against yesterday's 7.2 deg C, while the maximum was 20 deg C, compared to 18.6 deg C yesterday.