People gather around a bonefire during the festival of Lohri in Amritsar. Lohri marks the culmination of winter and marks the sun's entry in to the 'Makar Rashi' (northern hemisphere). Lohri celebrates fertility and the spark of life, and people gather round the bonfires, throw sweets, puffed rice and popcorn into bonfires, sing popular songs, fly kites and exchange greetings.
Dense fog and mist which engulfed the region also hit the rail, road and air traffic, causing inconvenience to commuters. Many trains were running either late for several hours or
cancelled, while morning flights from Chandigarh airport were cancelled due to poor visibility, officials said here.
Chandigarh shivered at 4 deg C, down by one degree C below
normal, the MeT office said here. In Punjab, Ludhiana and Patiala braved the chill at 4.9 deg C
and 4.6 deg C while Amritsar hit a low of 4 deg C, up by one deg above normal. Maximum temperature in the region were also hovering below 10 deg C mark in most parts of Punjab and Haryana as maximum witnessed sharp drop of 13 deg C below normal on January 4.
On Friday, Chandigarh had a maximum of 8.4 deg C, down by 13 notches below normal. Ambala and Amritsar recorded a maximum of 8 deg C and 8.2 deg C respectively.