By IANS
New Delhi : People in the northern India continued to shiver despite being draped in layers of woollen Thursday as the mercury dipped below normal again.
Drass in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir was freezing at minus 30 degrees Celsius, and icy winds blowing down from the hilly areas of north India made most of the plains chilly for the fourth continuous day. Since Monday the entire north is in the grip of a severe cold wave.
Delhi Thursday recorded a minimum of 2.4 degrees Celsius, the second lowest of the season so far. The minimum temperature plummeted at most places in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Chandigarh recorded zero – the lowest this season.
“Today (Thursday) is the coldest Jan 24 in last five years and second coldest day of the season,” an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in the national capital.
“Snowfall in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh is behind this weather in the capital. The icy winds coming from the mountains are worsening the situation here,” the official told IANS.
However, the weatherman did hold out some hope. “This spell of severe cold is expected to end by Sunday,” he said.
“It is too cold and I am not going to the gym for the last three-four days. You just cannot come out of your quilt,” said Shubankar Pradhan, a bank employee.
Rajesh Kumar Singh, a college student, said: “I am taking at least five-six cups of tea a day to beat the cold. Two sweaters, a jacket, cap and hand gloves are must for me before going out of home.”
The coldest day of the season in Delhi so far was recorded on Jan 2, when the minimum temperature was 1.9 degrees Celsius.
People in Drass town, the second coldest inhabited place in the world after Siberia, are facing hardships with mercury continuously dipping.
The rest of Ladakh was not much better off, as the mercury fell to minus 20 in regional capital Leh, according to weather officials in Srinagar.
Even in the relatively mild Kashmir valley, people woke up to a freezing Thursday with the mercury plummeting to minus 5.8 at the Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital.
T.K. Jotshi, assistant director of the meteorological department in Srinagar, told IANS: “The minimum temperature recorded today (Thursday) was minus 5.8 degrees Celsius. A cold wave is continuing to sweep across north India.”
“But we expect the night temperature to rise, bringing some relief to the residents.”
In Himachal Pradesh capital Shimla, people awoke to a fifth consecutive bone chilling morning Thursday. The mercury dipped to a minimum of minus 4.4 degrees Celsius in the state capital.
Taps ran dry for the fifth straight day at most places in Shimla as water froze in the pipes. People were seen pouring boiling water over the pipes in an attempt to melt the ice.
The sprawling tribal belt of Lahaul, Spiti, Kinnaur, Bharmaur and Dodra Kwar continued to reel under a severe cold spell with the temperature falling below minus 20 degrees Celsius at several places, freezing rivers and lakes.
The tribal areas remained cut off from the rest of the world as power cables and poles have been snapped by heavy snowfall.
The cold wave had Punjab and Haryana firmly in its grip. Temperatures in most cities remained 4 to 8 degrees below normal.
Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, recorded a minimum of 0 degrees Celsius – the lowest this season. The city recorded a similar temperature Jan 6 last year and Jan 28 in 1973.
Amritsar recorded a low of minus 2 degrees, followed by Ludhiana at minus 1.7 and Patiala at minus 0.9 degrees, both of which were at 8 degrees below normal.
Adampur town near Jalandhar remained the coldest place in Punjab with a temperature of minus 3.6 degrees. Halwara air force base near Ludhiana was at minus 1.2 degrees.
In Haryana, Ambala shivered at minus 1.3 degrees, again 8 degrees below normal. Narnaul recorded mercury at freezing point, Karnal at 0.6 and Rohtak at 1.3 degrees.
Mainly dry weather prevailed over south and western parts of India. Rain or thundershowers are likely at a few places over Jharkhand, Orissa and Gangetic West Bengal during next 24 hours till Friday.
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 18.4 (-3) 2.4 (-6) Nil
Mumbai 27.5 (-4) 12.6 (-3) Nil
Chennai 30.1 (+1) 19.8 (-1) Nil
Kolkata 25.0 (-2) 14.4 (0) Nil
Ahmedabad 23.6 (-5) 7.7 (-4) Nil
Bangalore 30.4 (-1) 17.4 (+2) Nil
Bhopal 19.9 (-7) 5.6 (-4) Nil
Bhubaneswar 30.8 (+2) 17.1 (+1) Nil
Chandigarh 16.4 (-1) 0.0 (-6) Nil
Dehradun 17.9 (+1) 2.9 (-3) Nil
Panaji 30.5 (0) 16.8 (-2) Nil
Guwahati 17.2 (-8) 9.7 (0) 28.0
Hyderabad 30.1 (+2) 19.4 (+4) Nil
Jaipur 20.0 (-3) 7.2 (-1) Nil
Lucknow 20.0 (-3) 6.0 (-1) Nil
Nagpur 30.5 (+1) 12.2 (-1) Nil
Patna 14.4 (-10) 13.3 (-3) 23.7
Pune 29.8 (0) 9.5 (-1) Nil
Srinagar 5.6 (+1) -5.8 (-3) Nil
Thiruvananthapuram 34.3 (+3) 22.4 (0) Nil