New Delhi, January 20
The cold wave tightened its grip across the entire northwest region with temperature dipping below normal levels in both hills and plains. While dense fog added to the misery of the people, the resulting low visibility played havoc with flight and train schedules. Disruption of power and water supply in parts of the region added to the woes of the common man.

As a thick blanket of fog engulfed Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, most of the Amritsar, Pathankot and Bathinda-bound trains ran hours behind schedule. As per the Met Office, Narnaul was coldest with night temperature of 1.5°C, four notches below normal, followed closely by Amritsar (2.5°C) and Karnal (3.8°C). Stations where visibility was recorded as 50 m or less in the morning hours included Ludhiana, Patiala, Ambala, Hisar, Bhiwani, Rohtak, Delhi, Sriganganagar, Pilani, Meerut, Aligarh, Agra and Gaya.

In Delhi, the morning saw minimum temperature dropping three notches below average to 4.5°C. Dense fog disrupted flight operations at the IGIA with 40 flights delayed and four cancelled. Five international flights had to be diverted to nearby airports due to poor visibility.

In the Kashmir Valley, the minimum temperature hovered several degrees below the freezing point. According to reports emerging from the region, mercury in Srinagar settled at a low of -3.5°C, 2.1°C below normal, while the night temperature at Gulmarg was recorded at a -14.6°C.

In Himachal Pradesh, cold wave tightened its grip further as higher reaches and mid hills, including Shimla, experienced intermittent snowfall. Icy winds swept the region, causing a sharp fall in night temperature. Avalanche threat loomed large in high-altitude tribal areas Chamba district, including Pangi and Bharmaur. Five persons died due to avalanche yesterday.

The minimum temperature dipped to -1.8°C and -2.5°C in Shimla and Manali while it dropped to -5°C at Narkanda after snowfall. Rajasthan also continued to reel under intense cold as Mount Abu, the state’s only hill station, experienced a chilling night at -2.2°C. The cold wave conditions are also prevailing over isolated pockets of west Uttar Pradesh, southeast Rajasthan and west Madhya Pradesh.

According to the Met office, dense fog would be witnessed in morning hours in some parts of northwest and adjoining central and east India during next two days.

Rain or snowfall would also occur at a few places over western Himalayan region during the next 48 hours. Visibility would go down to 200 m or below in parts of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, north Rajasthan, north Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during next 48 hours. Ground frost would also occur in some parts of Punjab, Haryana, west Uttar Pradesh and north Rajasthan.