Kargil remains coldest in country, mercury dips to -3 deg C in TN's Ooty

NEW DELHI: Kargil continued to be the coldest place in the country for the second consecutive day as the night temperatures in Jammu and Kashmir stayed several degrees below the freezing point, while a sub-zero temperature was recorded after a gap of three years in Tamil Nadu's Ooty.
In Rajasthan, Mount Abu was the coldest place, recording a low of 1.4 degrees Celsius, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) report said.

The minimum temperature in Delhi was recorded at 6.3 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season's average. The maximum temperature touched 25.1 degrees Celsius, with the national capital witnessing a bright day.

Jammu and Kashmir is currently under the grip of the "Chillai Kalan", the harshest 40-day period of winter. Kargil, in the Ladakh region of the state, recorded a minimum temperature of minus 11.4 degrees Celsius, the IMD said.

The minimum temperature at Srinagar settled at minus 2 degrees Celsius.

Intense cold wave conditions continued in Himachal Pradesh even as the minimum temperatures rose marginally.

Keylong was the coldest place in the state recording a minimum temperature of minus 4.4 degrees Celsius, while in Shimla the minimum temperature dropped to 5.9 degrees Celsius.

In Punjab and Haryana, Adampur (4.3 degrees Celsius) and Karnal were the coldest places respectively.

Chandigarh, the joint capital of the two states, registered a minimum temperature of 7.4 degrees Celsius.

Muzaffarnagar recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 3.1 degrees Celsius in Uttar Pradesh.

A very dense fog was witnessed at isolated places in the state. While the night temperatures fell in Lucknow, day temperatures fell in Faizabad.

After a gap of about three years, a sub-zero temperature was recorded at the hill station of Udhagamandalam (Ooty) in Tamil Nadu, with the mercury dipping to minus 3 degrees Celsius at Sandinala on the outskirts.

In Kerala, rainfall was recorded at isolated places.

Among the other places in south India, a dry weather prevailed over Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Lakshadweep.

The minimum temperatures at a few places were appreciably above normal (3.1 to 5 degrees Celsius) in Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Tripura, while it was above normal in West Bengal and west Rajasthan (1.6 to 3 degrees Celsius).