There was no respite from bone-chilling cold wave in Punjab and Haryana as minimum temperature fell sharply by up to five notches below normal, throwing life out of gear in both states. With the intense cold wave sweeping northern region, Narnaul in Haryana recorded the ongoing winter season's lowest temperature at zero deg C, down by five degrees below normal. As prevailing weather conditions hit normal life in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, the MeT Department in its forecast said the cold wave will continue for the next 24 hours in both states with partly cloudy sky and foggy weather conditions.

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.