New Delhi, Dec 27: almost the entire North India continued to shiver under intense cold wave condition during the past 24 hours with Delhiites waking up to a chilly morning on Saturday with the minimum temperature settling at 5.5 degrees Celsius while Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir recorded temperature much below the normal.
In Delhi, the minimum temperature was recorded at 5.5 degrees Celsius, which is two notches below normal for this time of the year, and humidity was recorded at 81 per cent on Saturday, said an MeT official.
On Friday the maximum temperature was 19.3 degrees Celsius and the minimum was 5.5 degrees Celsius, while humidity oscillated between 94 and 43 per cent, the official added.
In Jammu & Kashmir, mercury remained sub-zero at most places in Kashmir and Ladakh, even as it went up by few notches amidst MET office forecast of scattered rains for next two days.
Srinagar recorded a low of minus 3.2 degrees Celsius, an increase of two degrees from the previous night’s minus 5.2 degrees Celsius, a spokesman for the MET department here said.
The minimum temperature at the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg registered an increase of over four degrees on Saturday from the previous night’s minus 10.2 degrees C to settle at minus 5.7 degrees C.
Another famous tourist resort Pahalgam which serves as a base camp for the annual Amarnath Yatra – recorded a low of minus 4.4 degrees Celsius, also an increase of over four degrees from minus 8.0 degrees Celsius of the previous night, the spokesman said.
He said Kupwara town in north Kashmir and Kokernag in south also registered an increase in the minimum temperature as the mercury settled at minus 3.0 degrees Celsius and minus 3.6 degrees Celsius respectively.
Qazigund, the gateway town to the Valley recorded a low of minus 4.0 degrees Celsius as compared to the previous night’s minus 3.8 degrees Celsius, the spokesman said, adding the town was the only recorded place in the Valley where the night temperature went down. The mercury in Leh, in the frontier Ladakh region, went up by over six notches from the previous night’s minus 16.2 degrees Celsius to settle at minus 10.1 degrees Celsius.
However, Leh continued to be the coldest recorded place in the state. The nearby Kargil town also registered an increase of six degrees in the night temperature as the mercury there settled at a low of minus 9.0 degrees Celsius, the spokesman said, adding the town had recorded a low of minus 15.0 degrees Celsius the previous night.
Coldwave condition also gripped Haryana and Punjab with Narnaul reeling at 1.5 degrees Celsius. Haryana’s Narnaul was the coldest place in the two states as the minimum temperature (1.5 degrees Celsius) there settled five notches below normal level. Hisar also shivered at 3.9 deg C, three notches below normal while Ambala’s minimum settled at 5.9 deg C.
Chandigarh also experienced a cold night at 5.6 deg C, the MeT Department report said here. In Punjab, Amritsar recorded 3.2 deg C, a notch below normal. Patiala registered a low of 7.1 deg C while Ludhiana’s minimum settled at 8.3 deg C.
Cold wave conditions prevailed in parts of Rajasthan where Churu remained the coldest at 1.7 degrees Celsius followed by Mount Abu at 3 degrees Celsius.
Sriganganagar, Jaipur, Bikaner, Ajmer, and Kota registered minimum of 5.1, 5.2, 6.8, 7.2 and 8.2 degrees Celsius respectively whereas the night temperature was above 9.5 degrees Celsius in other cities. There were also reports of ground frost in areas like Sikar, Jhunjhunu and nearby regions.
Due to foggy conditions in Northern region, 11 trains ran late, a NWR spokesperson informed.
