Delhiites feel the icy chill

2 die in Uttar Pradesh, Capital records seasons lowest temperature

The day also saw New Delhi recording the season’s lowest temperature of 5.2 degrees Celsius. People had to brave icy winds as mercury dipped 2.2 notches from Friday’s 7.4 degrees. A thin layer of fog engulfed the city in the morning, reducing the visibility to 700 metres. However, flight movement remained unaffected.

Snowfall in the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir brought down temperatures in Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand where foggy conditions prevailed, Met officials said.

Leh and Kargil districts were reeling under severe cold wave as minimum temperatures dipped to minus 19.4 and minus 14.0 respectively. Even day temperatures registered a steep fall with the two places recording a minimum of minus 2 degrees and 5.8 respectively.

Srinagar recorded a low of minus 4.4 degrees. However, there was a little improvement in Jammu as the city recorded a minimum of 6.8. The city had recorded a low of 4.7 on Friday.

Met officials said the Spiti river in the Himachal region froze at many places due to extreme cold condition. Similarly, Kalpa in Kinnaur district registered night temperature of minus 4 degrees Celsius while it was minus 0.4 degree in Bhuntar, they said.

The condition in most parts of Punjab and Haryana intensified further with Rohtak and Amritsar registering bone-chilling temperatures. Rohtak and Amritsar braved the season’s coldest night so far at zero degree and 0.5 degrees each respectively, down by 6 and 3 notches. Mount Abu continued to be the coldest place in Rajasthan with a minimum temperature of 1.4 degrees followed by Ganganagar at 4.2 degrees, a Met official said. Churu, another city in Rajasthan chilled at 4.4 degree Celsius.