By IANS
New Delhi : It turned sunny in north India Saturday, but the biting wind returned and kept blowing all the way to Mumbai. The weatherman forecasts it will stay cold at least till Tuesday.
Residents of the national capital had a sunny start to the weekend but cold winds kept people indoors. The minimum temperature in Delhi was 5.6 degrees Celsius, nearly three degrees below normal.
The maximum temperature in the city was also nearly six degrees below normal at 16.6 degrees.
The Met office forecasts Sunday to be even colder with minimum temperature at nearly four degrees with a likelihood of rain.
Kashmir valley saw sunshine after nearly a week of heavy snowfall but the threat of avalanches continued to loom in the higher reaches.
“We had respite after seven days of snowfall today (Saturday) as the clouds parted,” said T.K. Jotshi, assistant director with the weather department in Srinagar.
“Fair weather conditions are going to continue for at least three days. Because of clear night skies, the minimum temperature, which had risen because of the cloud cover, has again started falling. It was minus 3 degrees Celsius in Srinagar today,” said Jotshi.
Meanwhile, the death toll in avalanches and roof collapses across the state has risen to 19. The civil administration has sought the assistance of the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force in relief and rescue operations.
Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of minus 3.4 degrees Celsius while Sunday is expected to be colder at minus 5 degrees Celsius.
According to the Met office northwestern India will stay cold and windy till Tuesday. Ground frost is likely over Punjab, Haryana and north Rajasthan.
The lowest minimum temperature in the plains was 0.1 degree Celsius at Amritsar.
For the third time this week, Mumbai had a minimum temperature below 10 degrees and Ahmedabad was also a chilly 8.5 degrees.
The following are the maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall in major cities for the 24 hours till Saturday morning, with figures in brackets denoting deviations from the average.
City Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature Rainfall
(C) (C) (mm)
Delhi 16.8 (-6) 5.6 (-3) Nil
Mumbai 22.3 (-1) 8.6 (-7) Nil
Chennai 31.7 (+3) 26.0 (+5) Nil
Kolkata 29.1 (0) 21.7 (+6) 0.3
Ahmedabad 21.1 (-9) 8.5 (-5) Nil
Bangalore 28.0 (-2) 19.9 (+4) Nil
Bhopal 23.4 (-5) 8.0 (-4) Nil
Bhubaneswar 31.1 (0) 22.4 (+4) 0.3
Chandigarh 15.4 (-7) 5.0 (-3) Nil
Dehradun 13.4 (-8) 6.2 (-1) 0.5
Panaji 28.0 (+3) 15.2 (-5) Nil
Guwahati 24.6 (-1) 13.8 (+3) Nil
Hyderabad 27.5 (-3) 20.0 (+4) Nil
Jaipur 20.1 (-5) 5.6 (-4) Nil
Lucknow 21.8 (-2) 6.6 (-1) Nil
Nagpur 29.0 (-2) 16.4 (+2) Nil
Patna 30.0 (-5) 15.5 (+4) Nil
Pune 25.6 (-5) 6.4 (-5) Nil
Srinagar 6.2 (-1) -3.4 (-2) Nil
Thiruvananthapuram 33.4 (+2) 23.2 (+1) 5.7