M A I N   N E W S

The big chill: At -3°C, Narnaul coldest place in plains
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 7
The cold wave condition intensified with the minimum temperature plummeting sharply, throwing normal life out of gear in many places of the North. According to weather office, the lowest minimum temperature of minus 3.0 degree Celsius was recorded at Narnaul (Haryana) in the plains of the country.

With cold wave conditions raging, Delhi continued to shiver as mercury remained below normal by five notches to settle at 2.4 degree Celsius. The maximum temperature too dipped to seven degrees below normal to settle at 13.4 degree Celsius.

In the neighbourhood, Hisar reeled with a low of minus 0.8 degree Celsius, two degrees below normal, followed by Bhiwani with 0.5. Minimum temperature in Amritsar settled at a low of 1.8 degrees Celsius while Patiala and Ludhiana recorded the minimum temperatures of 2.4 and 2.7 degree Celsius, respectively.

The entire Kashmir Valley continued to reel under intense cold with night temperature hovering several degrees below freezing point. The minimum temperature recorded in Srinagar was minus 4.9 degree Celsius, down by 0.3 notches from yesterday’s minus of 4.6 degrees Celsius. The Met office said the Kargil town in frontier region of Ladakh was the coldest place in the state with a low of minus 16.4 degree Celsius, while mercury in Gulmarg plunged further to minus 9.8 degree Celsius. Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh, shivered at a low of minus 0.6 degree Celsius. Rajasthan continued to remain in the grip of severe cold, with Churu being the coldest place at minus 2.7 degree Celsius followed by Karauli at zero degree while in UP Muzaffarnagar shivered at minus 0.7 degree Celsius. Agra recorded 0.6 degree Celsius, Najibabad (Bijnor) 1.0, Lucknow and Aligarh 1.4 each and Kheri 1.6 degree Celsius.

In Uttarakhand, the Tehri district was the coldest at 0.5 degree Celsius followed by Mukteshwar at 0.4 and Pithoragarh at 0.2 degree Celsius. Capital Dehradun also shivered at 1.3 degree Celsius.

According to the IMD, cold wave conditions would prevail over some parts of Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar during next 48 hours. While dense fog would abate from many parts of Indo-Gangetic plains during next 1-2 days, strong northwesterly winds from tomorrow onwards could worsen chill conditions.

Chandigarh’s coldest day in history

• Chandigarh on Monday recorded its coldest day in history with a maximum temperature at 6.1°C, as piercing cold conditions swept Punjab and Haryana.
• The minimum temperature recorded in Srinagar was minus 4.9°C
• Hisar reeled with a low of minus 0.8°C