North India reels under intense cold wave

With winter having fully set in most parts of India, biting cold waves prevail in northern parts of India as the mercury continues its downward trend. According to the weather department, the national capital and its surrounding regions are likely to record its second-coldest December since 1901. The department also added that temperature in the northern pockets of India is expected to drop further. 

Earlier on Thursday, the minimum temperature in Delhi was recorded at 5.8 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature was 13.4 degrees Celsius. According to the weather department, the recorded temperature was considered to be seven notches below normal. 

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Drass records minus 30.2 degrees Celsius

Narnaul in Haryana was the coldest place with 2.5 degrees Celsius while Hisar recorded a minimum of 3.3 degrees Celsius. The Meteorological Centre (MeT) office stated that the middle and high hills of Himachal Pradesh are likely to receive snowfall on December 31 and January 1.

Meanwhile, Drass belt in the Kargil sector was the coldest region in the twin Union Territories of Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh with a minimum temperature of minus 30.2 degrees Celsius.

In Rajasthan, the Fatehpur town in Sikar district recorded season's lowest night temperature at minus 3 degrees Celsius. In Bihar, the authorities have asked government schools to remain shut due to cold. 

READ | Unabated cold wave in north India, Fatehpur in Raj records minus 3 deg C

Weather conditions likely to persist until Friday

The minimum temperature across Kashmir and Ladakh remained several degrees below the freezing point. In Srinagar, the extreme cold led to the freezing of water supply lines at several places. The ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 9.0 degrees Celsius. The night temperature at Pahalgam resort, which also serves as one of the base camps for the annual Amarnath yatra in south Kashmir, settled at 11.4 degrees Celsius while south Kashmir's Anantnag district was the coldest place to be recorded in the valley, the weather office said.

Qazigund, the gateway town to the valley in south Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 9.4 degrees Celsius. Kokernag town, also in the south, recorded a low of minus 6.7 degrees Celsius while Kupwara in the north registered a minimum of minus 5.6 degrees Celsius.

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