The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

NATION

Read under headings Max (maximum temperature), Min (minimum temperature), R (rainfall in past 24 hours) and TR (Total rain since June 1):

Station	Max	Min	R	TR
Ahmedabad	30	14	0	0
Allahabad	13	01	0	6
Bangalore	29	18	0	0
Baroda	32	19	0	0
Bhopal	28	12	0	0
Bhubaneswar	28	13	0	0
Dehra Dun	23	05	0	2
Guwahati	—	10	0	2
Gaya	16	05	0	5
Hyderabad	28	13	0	0
Indore	29	12	0	0
Jaipur	23	05	0	9
Jammu	19	03	0	0
Kolkata	26	11	0	0
Lucknow	16	04	0	20
Mumbai	32	22	0	0
Nagpur	30	12	0	0
New Delhi	17	06	0	16
Patna	16	05	0	13
Pune	29	12	0	0
Ranchi	25	07	0	4
Shillong	18	07	0	tr
Shimla	18	08	0	7
Srinagar	11	-2	0	0

Snow likely in J&K, Himachal
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 20
Rainfall: Weather was dry over the region.

Temperature: Past 24 hours change: Minimum temperatures changed little. Departure: They were markedly below normal in east Uttar Pradesh appreciably below normal in Haryana, Punjab and west Uttar Pradesh, below normal in Rajasthan, above normal in Himachal Pradesh and normal in the rest of the region.

The lowest temperature in the plains was 0.5°C recorded at Churu (Rajasthan).

Forecast valid until the morning of 22nd: Rain or snow is likely at a few places in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and at isolated places in Uttaranchal. Rain or thundershowers are likely at isolated places in Punjab. Weather will be mainly dry in the rest of the region.

Low temperature warning: Ground frost is likely to occur at many places in Haryana, Punjab and east Uttar Pradesh and at a few places in Rajasthan and west Uttar Pradesh during the next two nights.

Forecast for Delhi and neighbourhood valid until the morning of 22nd: Cold day with mainly clear sky. Fog till forenoon. Minimum temperature will be around 6°C.

Farmers weather bulletin for Delhi forecast valid until the morning of 22nd: Sky will be mainly clear.

Outlook for the subsequent two days: No large change.

Amritsar shivers at 1.7 °C

Chandigarh, January 20
Thick layers of fog, coupled with bone chilling cold disrupted rail, road and air traffic in the entire northwest region for the 21st day today, with Amritsar, Ludhiana and Chandigarh staying coldest in the plains as minimum temperatures plummeted by four degrees to 1.7 °C, 2.3 °C and 2.6 °C, respectively.

January 2001 till date was considered to be the coldest month when dense fog had disrupted life for 20 days at a stretch. But this year, the record is set to be broken with no respite from the ongoing cold wave and fog, which has enveloped most of the northwest region.

The intense cold wave and fog has already claimed at least 57 lives in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. Ambala with the low of 3.7 °C was colder by three degrees while Hisar at 4 °C was colder by two degrees.

Srinagar, reported the low of minus 2.3 °C, one degree below normal and Jammu with 3.1 °C, had the low falling five degrees below normal. Ambala and Hisar in Haryana reported the lows falling by two and four degrees below normal to 3.7 °C and 4 °C, respectively.

Compared to weather in plains, people in the lower areas of Himachal Pradesh continued to enjoy clear and sunny days. Capital town Shimla was warmer at 8.4 °C, against the normalof around zero Celsius at this time of the year. Bhunter and Sundernagar reported the lows of 0.2 °C and 0.4 °C, respectively.

Chandigarh, has remained cut off by air from the rest of the country since Januay 4.

It was only on January 3 in the new year that Indian Airlines and Jet Airways had operated their to and fro flights since December 31, when the region had welcomed the first widespread winter rain and snow. The two major airlines, which had cancelled all their to and fro flights till January 19, have announced further cancellation till January 23 in view of bad weather and non functional of the air landing system at the local IAF since December 25.

All up trains emanating from New Delhi, Delhi and passing through the Ambala, Ferozepur divisions of the Northern Railway were again hit by sever foggy conditions. The Shatabadis, Himalayan Queen, Shane-e-Punjab to Chandigarh-Kalka, Amritsar, Mumbai-Kalka Paschim Express, Howrah Amritsar and Howrah-Kalka and Inter-City among various other trains ran two to four hours behind schedule.

The movement of vehicular traffic in the region which was disrupted last night continued to move at snail’s pace with headlights on till after mid-day. UNI