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At 11.7°C, Chandigarh records coldest day of season
The city’s day temperature on Thursday was even lower than hill stations of Himachal Pradesh, including Shimla where the maximum temperature was 15.7°C, Dharamshala where it was 21°C and Manali where it was 13°C. The city was almost as cold as Kufri where the maximum temperature was 11.6°C and Srinagar where it was 11°C.
With the maximum temperature plummeting to 11.7°C on Thursday, Chandigarh recorded its coldest day of the season so far, even as dense fog conditions for the four day in a row gave residents a tough time.
The city’s day temperature on Thursday was even lower than hill stations of Himachal Pradesh, including Shimla where the maximum temperature was 15.7°C, Dharamshala where it was 21°C and Manali where it was 13°C. The city was almost as cold as Kufri where the maximum temperature was 11.6°C and Srinagar where it was 11°C.
While the maximum temperature has been slipping to new lows every day this week, it is still lesser than the lowest that the maximum temperature had gone last January, when it had touched 11°C on January 16. This was also the fourth consecutive day when visibility had gone below 50 metres in the morning.
Fourth “severe cold” day in a row
The maximum temperature went from 11.9°C on Wednesday to 11.7°C on Thursday, nine degrees below normal. Thursday was also the fourth severe cold day as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD). As per the IMD, a severe cold day is declared when the minimum temperature drops below 10°C and the maximum is more than 6.5 degrees below normal. There have been severe cold days daily since Monday and there were two severe cold days in December too-- on the 24th and 25th.
Relief from fog likely over weekend
Visibility had gone down to just 25 metres on Thursday morning due to dense fog. As per IMD Chandigarh director Manmohan Singh, there will be two Western Disturbances affecting the region one after the other from January 7 with the second one likely to hit the region around January 10. With an active WD, fog formation will be affected owing to the change in winds. As fog reduces, the day temperature will also increase, he said. However, a dip in night temperature can be expected during this period.
Night temperature went from 6.2°C on Wednesday to 5.1°C on Thursday, 0.1 degrees below normal. Over the next three days, the maximum temperature will remain around 16°C while minimum will remain around 7°C.
4 flights cancelled, 14 delayed
As many as 14 flights, including six arrivals, were delayed at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport due to fog. Four flights, meanwhile, were cancelled till 7 pm on Thursday. Over the past five days, a total of 22 flights have been cancelled.
The fog also delayed the arrival of three trains at Chandigarh railway station. While trains from Lucknow saw several hours of delay, one from Patliputra was two-and-a-half hours late, officials said.
Winter break extended for classes up till 8:
In view of the extreme cold and foggy conditions, the UT education department has extended winter vacations up to Class 8, till January 14 in all government, aided and unaided private recognised schools in Chandigarh. For Classes 9 to 12, the schools will resume studies from January 9, however, classes will start only from 9am. Earlier the education department had extended the winter break till January 8 for all classes due to cold weather.
Tremors felt in city
Tremors were felt in the city as an earthquake of 5.9 magnitude on the Richter scale, hit near the Hindu Kush Region of Afghanistan at a depth of 200 kilometres.
