Hyderabad, The cold wave sweeping across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states for the last five days has claimed 46 lives so far.

According to reports reaching here on Friday, 20 deaths were reported from Andhra Pradesh and 26 cold deaths were reported Telangana state. The maximum six deaths were reported from united Warangal district in Telangana.Most of the victims were elderly people.

Both the day and night temperatures also remained below normal as the winter reached its peak.

The lowest minimum temperatures of 6 degrees Celsius was recorded at Adilabad district in Telangana while 17 degrees Celsius at Arogyavaram in Andhra Pradesh, MET office said in its bulletin here on Friday.

On Thursday, the mercury dropped to 4.8 degrees Celsius in Adilabad, the lowest in the last four years. And it is only expected to get worse in the days to come with the weatherman forecasting further dip in temperatures.

The minimum temperature in the district was hovering around 10 degrees Celsius, but on Wednesday, it recorded 5 degrees Celsius, which dropped further to 4.8 degrees Celsius on Thursday.

On December 18, 2014, the district recorded 4 degrees Celsius.