Kashmir, UP shiver due to cold wave

Cold wave hit Uttar Pradesh with the mercury plunging below normal even as dense fog adversely affected movement of trains and flights, while Kashmir continued to shiver due to temperature dropping several degrees below the freezing point.

Uttar Pradesh

According to the Weather office, Kanpur recorded three degree celsius on Monday night and remained the coldest place in the state. Below normal temperatures were recorded in many other places also.

Meanwhile, dense fog that engulfed large parts of Uttar Pradesh continued to disrupt normal life and movement of trains and flights. So far six people have died reportedly owing to cold in different parts of the state.

Uttar Pradesh Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav directed the authorities to make arrangements of bonfire and distribute blankets to the destitute, besides setting up night shelters in cities and towns. A government spokesman said that an amount of Rs 17 crore had been released for procuring blankets for the needy.

The Met office attributed the cold wave conditions to the snow fall in the higher reaches in neighbouring hill state of Uttarakhand.

Kashmir

A MeT department official said Srinagar recorded a low of minus 0.3 degrees Celsius against previous night’s 2.0 degrees. Mercury in the skiing resort of north Kashmir’s Gulmarg plummeted to a minimum of minus 8.8 degrees Celsius, against the previous night’s minus 1.0 degrees.

Minimum temperature in Pahalgam tourist resort in south settled at minus 7.5 degrees Celsius against previous night’s minus 4.1 degrees, he said.

Leh in Ladakh region recorded a bone-chilling minus 14.0 degrees Celsius against minus 12.2 degrees the previous night, while nearby town of Kargil recorded minus 11.4 degrees, compared to minus 12.1 degrees the previous night, the official said and added the night temperature in Leh has decreased by more than nine degrees Celsius over the last three days and the town continues to be the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir.

Forecast

The MeT department has forecast that weather would continue to be dry and cold especially in plains and there will be no change  over the next few days.

The free fall of mercury in the Valley and Ladakh region was worrisome for people as the traditional 40-day period of extreme cold that is known as the “Chillai Kalan” is still six days away.