Cold wave prevails in north India; snowfall in Kashmir, Himachal, U'Khand

Cold wave conditions prevailed in most parts of north India on Monday with fresh bouts of snowfall occurring at many places in the Kashmir Valley and higher reaches of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

In the national capital, the minimum temperature rose slightly due to a cloud cover lingering over the city, weather experts said. However, temperatures are expected to dip over the next three-four days due to rains under the influence of a western disturbance, they said.

The city recorded a high of 19.1 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year, and a low of 9.9 degrees Celsius, three notches more than normal, the India Meteorological Department said.

Rains are expected in north India between January 7 and 9, which will lead to a dip in the mercury in Delhi, it said.

In Kashmir, Srinagar and other places received first snowfall of 2020 on Monday as the night temperature across the valley improved due to the fresh downpour.

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"Light to moderate snowfall occurred across Kashmir, including Srinagar city, since early morning," an official of the MeT department said.

However, flight operations to and fro Srinagar airport were going on as per schedule, an official of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) said. The fresh snowfall has resulted in light temperature going up in the valley, the MeT department official said.

Srinagar recorded a low of minus 0.8 degrees Celsius last night, he said. Over 600 vehicles were stranded as fresh snowfall and landslides triggered by rains closed the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on Monday, officials said.

The highway has been closed for traffic after fresh snowfall across the Jawahar tunnel and fresh landslides at Digdool, they said. In Uttarakhand, fresh snowfall occurred in the high altitude areas while bone-chilling winds coupled with intermittent showers swept the plains.

Badrinath, Kedarnath, Hemkund Sahib and the Valley of Flowers received a fresh spell of snow Monday morning even as it rained in the lower areas. Gangotri, Yamunotri, Harsil, Har Ki Doon in Uttarkashi district also received fresh snowfall. Intermittent rain lashed Dehradun through the day as the state capital recorded a minimum of 3.8 degree Celsius. Pantnagar recorded a minimum of 3.6 degrees Celsius, Mukteshwar minus 2.2 degrees Celsius and New Tehri 3 degrees Celsius, the meteorological department said.

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In Himachal Pradesh, higher reaches received fresh snowfall while several areas in the plains and low hills were lashed by rains.

As a result, the maximum temperatures across the hill-state dropped 6 to 7 degrees Celsius below normal, Director of Shimla Meteorological Centre, Manmohan Singh, said. Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur, Shimla, Kufri, Manali and Bharmaur received fresh snowfall, he said. Bharmaur got 5 cm snowfall, followed by Gondla, Kufri and Keylong (3 cm each), Kalpa (2.2 cm), Shimla (2.1 cm) and Udaipur (1 cm), Tourist destinations Manali, Dalhousie, Kufri, Keylong and Kalpa shivered at sub-zero temperatures, he said.

At minus 9 degrees Celsius, Keylong recorded the lowest temperature in the state. The highest temperature in the state was recorded in Kangra at 13.6 degrees Celsius, he added.

Cold wave conditions prevailed in Punjab and Haryana after overnight rains lashed various parts of the two states. The minimum temperatures, however, rose several notches above the normal in these states following the downpour. In Punjab, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala recorded their respective lows at 8.2 degrees Celsius, 10 degrees Celsius and 10.7 degrees Celsius, up to five degrees above the normal, a meteorological department official said. Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala recorded 2 mm, 2.4 mm and 0.5 mm rainfall respectively.

Read: Cold, dry weather at most places in UP

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In Haryana, Hisar, Karnal, Narnaul, Rohtak and Bhiwani registered their respective lows at 7.8 degrees Celsius, 10 degrees Celsius, 8.2 degrees Celsius, 9.8 degrees Celsius and 9.4 degrees Celsius, up to three degrees above normal. 

Union Territory Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, recorded the minimum temperature at 11.3 degrees Celsius, up to six degrees above the normal. The city also witnessed a trace of rainfall.

In Rajasthan, cold weather prevailed with Dabok recording the minimum temperature at 7.2 degrees Celsius, the meteorological department said.Kota recorded a low of 9.0 degrees Celsius while Jodhpur a low of 9.3 degrees Celsius.

The weather remained dry and cold in Uttar Pradesh with some parts of the state witnessing dense fog in the morning, the MeT office said. Thundershowers are very likely to lash most parts of the state on Tuesday, it said.

On Monday, dense to very dense fog engulfed isolated places over western districts while shallow to moderate fog occurred at places over eastern Uttar Pradesh. At 6 degrees Celsius, Najibabad recorded the lowest minimum temperature in the state, the MeT office said.

In eastern India, the Himalayan town of Darjeeling in West Bengal shivered at near-freezing temperatures on Monday, while the mercury stayed below 10 degrees Celsius in other parts of the state. Kolkata recorded the minimum temperature at 12.6 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature stood at 22.6 degrees Celsius.