Snowfall in Himachal Pradesh; temps dip in several states in North India, Delhi

Snowfall was recorded at a few high-altitude areas of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and the mercury dipped in many places in north India, including Haryana, Punjab and Delhi on Tuesday, even as the IMD forecast a gradual fall in temperature by two to four degrees Celsius this week.

Rains lashed several places in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and coastal Andhra Pradesh, with Tuticorin, Madurai, Ongole, Khozikode, Kanyakumari, Coonoor and Nellore, among other areas, receiving four cm or more rainfall since Monday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its all-India bulletin.

Manali shivered at minus 1.5 degrees Celsius, a day after heavy snowfall in the upper reaches of Himachal Pradesh, while Keylong was the coldest place in the state at minus 6.6 degrees Celsius.

Uttarakhand, which experienced heavy snowfall on Monday leaving chief ministers Trivendra Singh Rawat and Yogi Adityanath stranded at Kedarnath, saw calmer weather on Tuesday, with capital Dehradun recording 9.4, Mukteshwar 4.8 and New Tehri 4.2 degrees Celsius.

In the national capital, the minimum temperature fell to 13 degrees Celsius, three notches down from Monday and the maximum settled at 26 degrees Celsius, according to the IMD.

The sky will remain mostly clear on Wednesday with a slight mist in the morning and the minimum temperature is likely to drop by two degrees Celsius, it said.

In its snowfall observation, the IMD said that "snow/rain at a few places over Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, and Himachal Pradesh".

"Minimum temperatures are very likely to fall gradually by two to four degrees Celsius over northwest India and north Madhya Pradesh during the next four to five days," it said.

Haryana and Punjab, a day after being lashed by rains, saw maximum temperatures hover below the normal.

Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, recorded a high of 25.9 degrees Celsius, one notch below the normal, according to the meteorological (MeT) department.

In Haryana, Ambala recorded a high of 24.8 degrees Celsius, down two notches against the normal, while Hisar's maximum settled at 24 degrees Celsius, five degrees below the normal.

Karnal registered a high of 24.5 degrees Celsius, down three notches against the normal.

In Punjab, Amritsar recorded a high of 22.5 degrees Celsius, down four notches, while Ludhiana registered a maximum of 23.9 degrees Celsius, down three notches. Patiala's maximum settled at 25.5 degrees Celsius, two notches below the normal.

The MeT department said the weather is likely to be dry in Haryana and Punjab for the next four days.

In Himachal Pradesh, Kalpa recorded a low of minus 2.1 degrees Celsius, while Dalhousie and Shimla recorded a low of 3.6 and 4.8 degrees Celsius respectively, the weatherman said.

Snowfall was recorded in the upper reaches of the state, the MeT Centre said.

Mount Abu was the coldest place in Rajasthan with a minimum temperature of four degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature in Ganganagar, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Churu, Pali and Barmer was 11.9 degrees Celsius, 13 degrees Celsius, 13.2 degrees Celsius, 13.5 degrees Celsius, 14 degrees Celsius and 15.8 degrees Celsius, respectively, according to the MeT department in Jaipur.

The night temperature is likely to fall in the state during the next two-three days.

For the southern part of the country, the IMD has predicted fairly widespread to widespread rainfall accompanied with thunderstorm and lightning, and isolated heavy rainfall over Kerala, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, among other states.

"Under the influence of a fresh Western Disturbance, light isolated to scattered rain/snow is very likely over Western Himalayan region from 18 to 20 November," the meteorological department has forecast.