HP receives fresh snow, cold conditions prevail in North India

NEW DELHI: Northern parts of India continued to shiver with Himachal Pradesh witnessing snowfall for the second consecutive day and cold wave intensifying in Jammu and Kashmir.
Following fresh snowfall in many parts of Himachal Pradesh, cold wave conditions intensified further in the state, with Shimla experiencing the coldest night of the season at minus 0.4 degrees Celsius.

Theog-Matiyana National Highway was blocked due to heavy snow and 250 people, stranded near Matiyana, 50 km from the state capital, were brought to Shimla after clearing the snow.

Restoration works in full swing and most of the roads have been opened for traffic.

The snowfall has given a boost to weekend tourism.

"Our occupancy has increased significantly after snowfall and we expect a good weekend due to holidays," a hotel owner said.

But, there was no relief from dry weather conditions in Kashmir as cold wave intensified in most parts of the Valley and Ladakh division with Kargil town being the coldest recorded place in the state.

Kashmir has been going through extremely dry and cold weather conditions this winter, leading to health related problems among the children and elderly.

The mercury at Kargil town in Ladakh region settled at a low of minus 20 degrees Celsius last night, slightly down from minus 19.2 degrees Celsius the previous night, an official of the MeT Department said.

Srinagar recorded a low of minus 4.3 degrees Celsius. The night temperature in Qazigund settled at a low of minus 5.2 degrees Celsius, while Kokernag registered a low of minus 3.8 degrees Celsius.

Cold conditions continued in Punjab and Haryana, a day after rains lashed most parts of both the states, with joint capital Chandigarh recording a low of 8.6 degrees Celsius.

In Haryana, Ambala's minimum temperature settled at 8.8 degrees Celsius,while Hisar, Karnal and Narnaul recorded their lows at 7.9 degrees Celsius, 6 degrees Celsius and 8.5 degrees Celsius respectively.

In Punjab, Amritsar's minimum temperature was 6.1 degrees Celsius, while Ludhiana and Patiala experienced cold weather at 6.2 degrees Celsius and 8.1 degrees Celsius respectively.

It was a cold day in the national capital with the minimum temperature settling at 7.4 degrees Celsius.

Due to moderate fog in the morning hours, visibility was low. The weatherman has forecast clear skies along with dense fog during the morning hours for tomorrow.

Cold wave conditions prevailed in parts of Uttar Pradesh, where Muzaffarnagar was the coldest at 5.4 degrees Celsius, and at isolated places in Bihar.

Night temperatures were appreciably below normal in some parts of east Rajasthan, Saurashtra and Kutch region and Telangana.