By IANS
New Delhi : The cold wave across northern India continued unabated Thursday as the death toll in Uttar Pradesh due to the cold touched 38. The national capital saw a slight rise in the minimum temperature to 2 degrees Celsius.
Four people died Wednesday in different parts of Uttar Pradesh due to the severe cold, officials at state capital Lucknow said Thursday.
With the mercury dipping to 2.8 degrees Celsius, Meerut was reported to be the coldest city in the state followed by Agra where the minimum was 3 degrees.
In Agra, District Magistrate Mukesh Meshram Thursday ordered the closure of all schools for the rest of the week.
Potato cultivators in Agra district have been hit hard because of the cold spell, which has damaged up to 25 percent of the crop, according to reports from Khandauli and Fatehabad blocks.
In comparison to Wednesday’s 1.9 degrees Celsius, Delhi Thursday recorded a minimum temperature of 2 degrees Celsius.
In contrast to last year’s Jan 3 when the minimum temperature was 6 degrees Celsius, this year the mercury has dipped a good five degrees below normal.
“Today’s minimum temperature was five degrees below normal. The severe cold wave is here to stay for some more days,” an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.
Animika Dutt, a homemaker living in east Delhi, told IANS: “Is it really better than yesterday? I don’t believe it. This morning I woke up because my feet were numb in the cold. I have started sleeping with the hot water bottle near my feet, just to keep myself warm. But last night even that didn’t help.”
In Rajasthan, Bharatpur recorded a minimum of 0.5 degrees Celsius Wednesday, the met office officials said.
For two consecutive days, the minimum in Mumbai dipped lower than that recorded in Maharashtra’s hill station, Mahabaleshwar.
Mumbai recorded a minimum temperature of 13.6 degrees Celsius Thursday against Mahabaleshwar’s minimum of 14.5. A day before the city had stayed cool at 12.5 against Mahabaleshwar’s 14 degrees.
The entire state of Maharashtra is in the grip of a cold wave but Mumbaikars can look forward to the temperatures rising over the next 72 hours with the mercury hovering around a minimum of 15 degrees, according to M. Rajeevan, director of National Climate Centre in Pune.
The IMD has forecast isolated rain or thundershowers over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Goa, north Maharashtra and Gujarat during the next 24 hours.
The following are the maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall in major cities for the next 24 hours till Thursday morning, with figures in brackets denoting deviations from the average.
Delhi
Maximum Temperature (C) 20.0 (-2)
Minimum Temperature(C) 2.0 (-5)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Mumbai
Maximum Temperature (C) 29.1 (-2)
Minimum Temperature (C) 13.6 (-3)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Chennai
Maximum Temperature (C) 29.5(+1)
Minimum Temperature (C) 21.0 (0)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Kolkata
Maximum Temperature (C) 24.9 (-2)
Minimum Temperature (C) 13.5 (0)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Ahmedabad
Maximum Temperature (C) 26.7 (-2)
Minimum Temperature (C) 13.4 (+1)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Bangalore
Maximum Temperature (C) 27.6 (+2)
Minimum Temperature (C) 13.8 (-1)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Bhopal
Maximum Temperature (C) 22.4 (-3)
Minimum Temperature (C) 10.4 (0)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Bhubaneswar
Maximum Temperature (C) 27.6 (0)
Minimum Temperature (C) 10.8 (-4)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Chandigarh
Maximum Temperature (C) 21.0 (+1)
Minimum Temperature (C) 3.2 (-6)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Dehradun
Maximum Temperature (C) 20.5 (+2)
Minimum Temperature (C) 4.1 (-2)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Panaji
Maximum Temperature (C) 32.8 (+1)
Minimum Temperature (C) 20.5 (+1)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Guwahati
Maximum Temperature (C) 26.8 (+4)
Minimum Temperature (C) 12.3 (+2)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Hyderabad
Maximum Temperature (C) 29.0 (+1)
Minimum Temperature (C) 17.2 (+3)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Jaipur
Maximum Temperature (C) 22.0 (-1)
Minimum Temperature (C) 2.8 (-5)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Lucknow
Maximum Temperature (C) 22.9 (+1)
Minimum Temperature (C) 6.8 (-1)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Nagpur
Maximum Temperature (C) 31.4 (+3)
Minimum Temperature (C) 13.9 (+2)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Patna
Maximum Temperature (C) 24.1 (+1)
Minimum Temperature (C) 7.7 (-2)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Pune
Maximum Temperature (C) 31.7 (+3)
Minimum Temperature (C) 10.7 (0)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Srinagar
Maximum Temperature (C) 10.1 (+5)
Minimum Temperature (C) -7 (-5)
Rainfall (mm) Nil
Thiruvananthapuram
Maximum Temperature (C) 34.5 (+3)
Minimum Temperature (C) 20.5 (-1)
Rainfall (mm) Nil