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Chandigarh coldest as region shivers

Chandigarh, January 11
Chandigarh today recorded its coldest day ever at 8.0°C, 12°C below normal, making people reel as icy cold winds swept the city.

“This is the lowest maximum recorded ever since the Meteorological Office here was set up in 1982. No definite records were maintained before that and in a way today was Chandigarh’s coldest day ever,” a met spokesman said. The night temperature settled at 3.0°C, four below normal.

Just three days ago, Chandigarh had witnessed the coldest day in 20 years after mercury dropped to 8.4°C.

Mercury also dropped by 10 degrees at Ambala during the day to touch 10.7°C while Hisar groaned recording a high of 14.4°C.

In Punjab, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala also had cold days. The maximums at these towns settled at 10.7°C, 12.4°C and 10.5°C, respectively, all below normal by up to 12 degrees.

Intense cold claimed life of an unidentified middle aged person in Amritsar. The body was found outside Panhga Sahib Gurdwara near the railway colony, a report from Amritsar said. With this, 16 persons have succumbed to cold in Punjab and Haryana while cold waves claimed two lives in the city.

Normal life was again today thrown out of gear with fog continuing to play spoilsport, disrupting rail and road traffic in Punjab and Haryana even as the met office has predicted little relief for the people, who have been groaning under cold wave conditions sweeping across the northern region for two weeks now.

Mercury plummeted to 0.0°C during the night at Narnaul in Haryana witnessing its coldest night while Ambala at 1.3°C, down six and Hisar at 4.1°C, down one, were among some of the coldest stations in the state.

Shimla witnessed a partially cloudy day and the maximum settled at 13.0°C while the night temperature there settled at 3.0°C. Sundernagar (-1.4°C), Bhuntar (-2.0°C) and Solan at (-1.5°C) reeled under severe cold after experiencing chilly nights.

Fog and mist at many places in Punjab and Haryana affected the movement of vehicular traffic.

The Ganganagar-Haridwar Express (both 4711 Up and 4712 Dn) were cancelled due to bad weather, a report from Ambala said. It said that trains coming from eastern part of the country, including the Punjab Mail, the Howrah-Amritsar Express, the Kisan Mail, and Howrah-Kalka were delayed by four hours.

Indian-Airlines Chandigarh-Delhi-Mumbai-Goa and the Jet Airways flight to Mumbai had to be cancelled for tenth time this year due to bad weather. PTI