New Delhi, December 30
Seven more persons fell prey to a biting cold wave in Uttar Pradesh where death toll from harsh weather touched 69 today, while most other parts of North India also shivered and fog disrupted rail and air traffic.

Fog staged a comeback in Delhi after four days. With a drop of four notches, the maximum temperature in the National Capital stood at 17°C while the minimum was 7.7°C. Fog also affected the schedule of around 50 flights.

However, the Met Department has forecast a clear sky with mist in the morning for tomorrow.

In Uttar Pradesh, severe cold wave claimed seven more lives, pushing the death toll this winter to 69. Two persons died in Barabanki district and one each in Gonda, Deoria, Ballia, Banda, and Hamirpur districts. The maximum temperature continued to be below normal by six to 11°C in parts of the state and the lowest minimum temperature of 0.7°C was recorded at the Lucknow airport.

Normal life in most parts of Punjab and Haryana was crippled due to fog, which threw rail and road traffic out of gear. However, the minimum temperature in the region went up due to cloudy sky.

While most of the flights from the Chandigarh airport were cancelled or re-scheduled, several trains crisscrossing the region were running hours behind schedule due to low visibility.

Hisar was the coldest place in the plains of Punjab and Haryana with a low of 2.2°C, four notches below normal.

Mercury plummeted in northern parts of Rajasthan with Sriganganagar freezing at a low of 0.6°C, four degrees below normal.

Himachal Pradesh remained in the grip of cold wave as night temperature dropped by one to three notches at various places in the state. Keylong in tribal Lahaul and Spiti district and Kalpa in adjoining tribal district of Kinnaur recorded minimum temperatures at minus 7.6°C and minus 3.8°C, respectively.

Tourist resort Manali reeled under severe cold with mercury dipping to minus 1.5°C. Solan, Bhuntar and Sundernagar recorded a low of 0.2°C, 1°C and 1.7°C. The high-altitude areas of the state reeled under arctic conditions with minimum temperature staying between minus 10 and minus 18°C.

All natural sources of water like lakes, springs, rivulets and a large stretch of the Chandrabhaga river in Spiti have frozen for the past three weeks, resulting in a sharp decrease in discharge of water in snow-fed Sutlej, Ravi and Beas rivers. The power generation at various hydropower projects has also gone down sharply. — PTI