Large swathes of northern India shivered under an intense cold wave after a brief respite, with several places in Jammu & Kashmir and Rajasthan recording subzero temperatures on Monday, according to official data.
The chill is expected to persist for the next couple of days, and will ease from January 19 under the influence of two successive western disturbances, the weather bureau has predicted. But as frigid northwesterly winds from the Himalayas sweep over the region, it is likely to get even colder in the next two days, it added.
A “yellow alert” indicating severely bad weather will remain in place till January 18, the weather office said.
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The two coldest places in the northern plains were in Rajasthan — Fatehgarh in Sikar at -3.7°C and Churu in the Thar Desert at -2.5°C.
{{/usCountry}}The two coldest places in the northern plains were in Rajasthan — Fatehgarh in Sikar at -3.7°C and Churu in the Thar Desert at -2.5°C.
{{/usCountry}}At least five cities in Rajasthan recorded subzero temperatures, which included Sikar (-2°C), Karauli (-1.4°C) and Chhittorgarh (-1.5°C). Alwar and Bhilwara recorded 0°C, the weather bureau said.
Rajasthan government has closed schools till January 18 in Udaipur and Bikaner districts.
Severe cold wave conditions prevailed in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
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“The minimum temperatures are in the range of one to three degrees Celsius over many parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, northwest and east Rajasthan; in the range of three to five degrees Celsius over the remaining parts of Rajasthan, many parts of west Uttar Pradesh,” the Met department said.
Hisar, in Haryana, recorded a minimum temperature of 0.8°C.
The Safdarjung observatory, Delhi’s base station, saw minimum temperature plunging to 1.4°C, the lowest since January 1, 2021. The weather station at Lodhi Road, where the weather bureau’s headquarter is located, recorded a minimum temperature of 1.6°C.
Kashmir’s ski resort of Gulmarg recorded the coldest night of the season on Monday, with temperature plunging to -12°C, the lowest temperature recorded in the Kashmir valley so far this winter. The minimum temperature in Gulmarg was 4.3°C lower than normal.
In Drass in Ladakh, the minimum temperature was -26.7°C.
The minimum temperature in the tourist resort of Pahalgam in south Kashmir dropped to -10.2°C. Srinagar recorded -2.9°C. Subzero temperatures were recorded at Jammu division’s three of six weather stations — Bhaderwah (-1°C), Batote (-1.4°C) and Banihal (-1.5°C). Jammu city witnessed 4.1°C while the minimum temperature was 4.6°C in Kathua.
“There was fog in plains of Jammu and it was partly cloudy in rest of the places,” said Sonam Lotus, regional director of weather office.