Cold wave sweeps north India; snowfall in HP, Kashmir

Cold wave tightened its grip across parts of north India today with most of Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir Valley receiving snowfall and rains while Churu in Rajasthan recorded a low of 0.8 degree Celsius.
In the national capital, the minimum temperature settled at 6 degrees Celsius, a notch below the normal while maximum temperature of 15.7 degrees Celsius was four notches below the season's average, said a Met Department official.
Moderate to dense fog during the early morning hours delayed 43 trains while 17 were rescheduled.
Humidity level oscillated between 97 and 74 per cent.
In Himachal Pradesh, biting cold wave conditions further intensified as mercury dropped by few notches and tribal and high altitude areas froze under sub-zero temperatures.

The tribal areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur, Pangi and Bharmaur remained cut off due to heavy show while roads linking Chopal, Nerwa and Deha have been cleared of snow and electricity supply has also been restored to Nerwa and Chopal, DC, Shimla Rohan Chand Thakur said.

The region had widespread rains since yesterday and Naina Devi was wettest with 36 mm rains, followed by Kheri 27 mm.
Snowfall occurred at isolated places and key tourist resort of Manali recorded 33 cm of snow, followed by Kalpa 18 mm, Khadrala 12 mm, Bijahi 10 mm, Shimla-6, Kothi and Jhanjehli 5cm and Keylong 4 cm.

Keylong recorded a low of minus 11.3 degrees Celsius, while Manali and Kalpa shivered at minus 7.6 degreesCelsius and minus 6.8 degrees Celsius.
Mercury plummeted in parts of Rajasthan with Churu in plains recording a minimum of 0.8 degree Celsius and Pilani shivering at 1.3 degree Celsius.
Night temperature across Kashmir division went down with most places in the Valley receiving fresh snowfall overnight, while the Srinagar-Jammu national highway remained closed for vehicular traffic for the second consecutive day.
Almost all the flights scheduled to operate from Srinagar International Airport got cancelled due to continued snowfall which started around this afternoon, an official of the Airport Authority of India told PTI.

He said only one flight from Jammu could land at the airport before it started snowing in the summer capital but could not take off from here.
An official of the Traffic Department said efforts were on to clear the highway of snow and only stranded vehicles would be allowed to move later in the day.
The snowfall continued at most places in the Valley during the night as well, but the weather since this morning has remained dry.
Srinagar recorded 0.5 mm of fresh snowfall during the night, an official of the Meteorological Department here said.
The summer capital recorded a high of 0.4 degree Celsius which is six degrees below normal, while the day temperature fell to minus four degrees Celsius at Gulmarg hill resort, an official of the MET department said.