North India reels under intense cold; fog disrupts rail, air traffic

New Delhi: Cold wave swept parts of north India with snowfall in the higher reaches of the Kashmir Valley, and Delhi recording its lowest minimum temperature of the season at 4.2 degrees Celsius, while dense fog continued to disrupt rail and air traffic.

Punjab and Haryana reeled under intense cold wave while dense fog engulfed most parts of the states delaying some trains and affecting flight operations. In Delhi, due to poor visibility, the Railways had to cancel 36 trains, reschedule 30 while 85 trains were running late.

High-altitude areas of Jammu region experienced light snowfall over the past few days, as a result of which several parts, including Bhaderwah and Banihal, were reeling under sub-zero night temperature. Meanwhile, 11 bodies have been recovered from a spot in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district where a passenger vehicle was hit by a huge avalanche of snow on Friday. Three people were pulled out alive from the avalanche site.

Leh in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, recorded a low of -15.6 degrees Celsius while a few areas in the higher reaches of Kashmir Valley received fresh snowfall. There was light snowfall in Gulmarg, Pahalgam and few other areas in the higher reaches of Kashmir last night.

Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of -1.2 degrees Celsius while Gulmarg recorded a low of -9.4 degrees Celsius. Kashmir is currently under the grip of ‘Chillai-Kalan’, the 40-day harshest winter period in Kashmir, when the chances of snowfall are maximum and the temperature drops considerably.

In high-altitude areas of Himachal Pradesh, the mercury stayed between -15 and -22 degrees Celsius while lakes, springs and rivulets there have frozen. In Haryana, Ambala braved bone-chilling weather at 5.6 degrees Celsius while Hisar registered a low of 2.6 degrees Celsius, four notches below normal.

Chandigarh airport recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 1.8 degrees Celsius, followed by Bathinda in Punjab which shivered at 1.9 degrees Celsius. Adampur in Jalandhar district, Pathankot and Halwara recorded minimum temperatures of 2.3 degrees Celsius, 4 degrees Celsius and 4.3 degrees Celsius respectively.

Uttar Pradesh witnessed dense to very dense fog at many places as cold wave swept some parts of the state, with Fursatganj in Rae Bareli recording the lowest minimum temperature of 2.6 degrees Celsius.

Cold wave conditions prevailed in northern parts of Rajasthan with Sriganganagar being the coldest recorded place at 1.9 degrees Celsius while dense to very dense fog occurred at isolated parts of the state. Bikaner, Dabok, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur recorded minimum temperatures of 4.6 degrees Celsius, 6.5 degrees Celsius, 7.2 degrees Celsius and 7.9 degrees Celsius respectively.