By IANS
New Delhi : People in the national capital continued to shiver Friday as the promised relief from the cold wave didn’t materialise and the Met Office here said the severe cold in the northern region would continue over the weekend.
“The snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh is really making life difficult here. It’s not Delhi alone, the entire north India is shivering in cold due to it,” said S.C. Bhan, director India Meteorological Department (IMD), here.
But after days of forecasting that the cold wave would abate, the Met Office Friday said that there was more of winter left this season.
Even Maharashtra and the coastal Mumbai were in thegrip of severe cold. The commercial capital experienced a low of only 8.5 degrees Celsius. This was unprecedented and a record for the past 40 years.
“The snowfall in the northern states is likely to stop from tonight. But don’t expect warm days tomorrow (Saturday) onwards,” Bhan said.
“The winter is very much in Delhi and will remain at least till the third week of February.”
IMD officials said the minimum temperature on Saturday would be around six degrees Celsius and on Sunday it is expected to fall further to four degrees. On Saturday, the city will experience cloudy sky as well.
“Who is saying that the winter is over? You can see me and many people like me, who are still covered under at least two layers of woollens,” Manashwini Mitra, a call centre employee in the capital.
In Jammu and Kashmir, an avalanche buried four houses, trapping 40 people, as the weather continued to wreak havoc. At least 11 people have been killed due to heavy snowfall and avalanches in the valley in the last four days.
Though two people managed to come out alive, the rest have been trapped since the avalanche Thursday evening buried four houses in Gujjar Basti village near Lower Manda in Anantnag district.
“A massive rescue operation has been started to save the trapped villagers,” a senior official told IANS.
T.K. Jotshi, assistant director of the local weather office in Srinagar, told IANS: “This has been the heaviest February snowfall in the valley during the last five years. Same weather conditions are expected to continue during the next 24 hours (till Saturday).”
Himachal Pradesh also wore a white mantle for the third consecutive day with the snow completely throwing life out of gear. Traffic came to a complete standstill in the state capital Shimla after Friday’s fresh spell of snowfall.
Shimla recorded a minimum temperature of -1 degree Celsius on a cold gloomy day when most residents stayed indoors.
With the cold northwesterly winds moving towards the northern plains, the northwestern parts of the country, reeling under unprecedented cold for the last few days, can hope for a respite from the chill.
The prevailing cold wave conditions over parts of Gujarat and Maharashtra are likely to abate during next 48 hours till Sunday.
Mumbai recorded another low with the mercury touching 8.5 degrees Celsius.
“The minimum temperature in northern Mumbai suburbs was 8.5 degrees. The weather is expected to be chilly around nine degrees for the next couple of days,” said K. Sathi Devi, director, Mumbai weather bureau.
The lowest ever recorded in the metropolis is 7.4 degrees Jan 22 1962.
The following are the maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall in major cities for the 24 hours till Friday morning, with figures in brackets denoting deviations from the average.
City Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature Rainfall
(C) (C) (mm)
Delhi 22.0 (-1) 9.0 (-3) Nil
Mumbai 23.2 (-8) 8.5 (0) Nil
Chennai 31.0 (+2) 23.4 (+2) Nil
Kolkata 30.3 (+1) 19.0 (+3) Nil
Ahmedabad 20.3 (-10) 7.7 (-6) Nil
Bangalore 28.4 (-1) 19.5 (+3) Nil
Bhopal 22.7 (-5) 8.0 (-2) Nil
Bhubaneswar 32.0 (+1) 17.5 (-1) Nil
Chandigarh 18.6 (-3) 7.6 (0) Nil
Dehradun 21.2 (0) 7.4 (0) Nil
Panaji 30.5 (0) 16.9 (-3) Nil
Guwahati 24.6 (-1) 13.8 (+3) Nil
Hyderabad 31.3 (+1) 20.7 (+5) Nil
Jaipur 19.4 (-6) 7.6 (-2) Nil
Lucknow 25.8 (+2) 12.9 (+5) Nil
Nagpur 26.1 (-5) 17.1 (+1) Nil
Patna 36.0 (+1) 17.0 (+6) Nil
Pune 25.8 (-5) 7.7 (-3) Nil
Srinagar 2.7 (-4) -0.6 (0) 13.9
Thiruvananthapuram 31.7 (0) 23.5 (0) Nil