Cold wave in J-K, Himachal, Uttarakhand; 3 killed in UP due to fog

Kashmir is currently under the grip of Chillai-Kalan, a 40-day harshest period of winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum and the temperature drops considerably.

Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand groaned under a piercing cold wave with most places recording minimum temperatures below the freezing point on Friday, even as three lives were lost in an accident due to heavy fog in the plains.

The holy shrine of Badrinath. In Jammu and Kashmir, Leh was the coldest recorded place at minus 11.4 degrees Celsius.(PTI File Photo)

Visibility levels dropped on a foggy morning in Haryana, Punjab, UP and New Delhi, though the sun shone bright in the afternoon in the region.

While it was cold in the night and morning in Delhi, the mercury settled at 25.3 degrees Celsius owing to a warm afternoon. The city recorded a minimum of 6.8 degrees Celsius.

Three persons were killed in Uttar Pradesh when their car ploughed into a mini-truck on the Delhi-Lucknow National Highway enveloped by a thick blanket of fog, police said.

In Jammu and Kashmir, Leh was the coldest recorded place at minus 11.4 degrees Celsius. The night temperature at the nearby Kargil town settled at a low of minus 9.2 degrees Celsius.

Srinagar city, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, recorded the minimum temperature of minus 2.8 degrees Celsius.

The mercury at the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir settled at a low of minus 5.4 degrees Celsius.

Kashmir is currently under the grip of Chillai-Kalan, a 40-day harshest period of winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum and the temperature drops considerably. It ends on January 31 next year, but the cold wave continues even after that in the valley.

Life moved at a snail’s pace in frigid conditions in higher tribal reaches of Himachal Pradesh where the mercury was recorded 12 to 18 degrees below the freezing point.

All natural sources of water such as lakes, springs, rivulets and tributaries of major snow-fed rivers have frozen. The discharge of water in major rivers has reduced to 20 per cent.

Bathinda was the coldest place in Punjab, recording a minimum of 4 degrees Celsius. Neighbouring Haryana also remained under the grip of intense chill.

Intense cold swept Amritsar, which had a low of 4.8 deg C. Cold weather conditions also prevailed in Ludhiana, where the minimum temperature settled at 5.8 deg C.

In Haryana, Hisar was the coldest place recording a low of 4.9 deg C. Narnaul, too, experienced a cold night at 5.5 deg C while Karnal recorded a low of 5.6 deg C. Rohtak braved the chill at a low of 6.7 deg C.

The MeT office said fog enveloped many places in Punjab and Haryana including Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Hisar and Karnal. However, the sky was clear in Chandigarh.

Muzaffarnagar was the coldest in UP with the mercury dipping to 4 deg C, while Kanpur saw temperatures drop to 6.8 deg C.