Fresh snowfall in Valley but warm day in other Northern states

Fresh snowfall occurred in the higher reaches of Kashmir while mercury continued its upward trend in most of other northern states.
The minimum temperature today in the national capital was 14.4 degrees Celsius, six notches above normal for this time of the season, although the maximum temperature was recorded at 21.5 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal.
The city witnessed a cloudy sky throughout the day with relative humidity oscillating between 61 and 100 per cent, a MeT official said.
While flight operations remained normal, two Delhi-bound trains were delayed and 16 cancelled, officials said.
In Kashmir, there was fresh snowfall in the higher reaches even as the Valley saw the end of 'Chillai-Kalan', the 40-day harshest phase of the cold.

Mercury stayed above freezing point across the region, except at Gulmarg and Pahalgam.

Many areas in the plains of the Valley, including the summer capital Srinagar, experienced intermittent rain, the MeT department said.
Around one foot of snowfall was recorded in the famous north Kashmir ski resort of Gulmarg since yesterday, a weather official said.
Srinagar recorded a low of 2.8 degrees -- an increase by a notch from the previous night's 1.8 degrees Celsius -- while the night temperature in Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir Valley, dropped from 2.6 degrees to settle at 1.8 degrees.
The night temperature of Leh in Ladakh region went down four notches from the previous night's minus 7.3 degrees Celsius to settle at minus 11.3 degrees, the official said.

Punjab and Haryana experienced respite from cold conditions as the minimum temperature in most places in the two states increased since yesterday.
Chandigarh recorded a minimum temperature of 9 degrees Celsius, two notches more than normal level while Amritsar was the coldest in the two stated recording a low of 4.2 degrees Celsius.
Elsewhere the minimum temperature ranged from 8.8 to 14 degrees Celsius.
However, foggy conditions prevailed at many places early today, including Chandigarh, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Ambala and Karnal affecting normal life.
The mercury rose in Rajasthan with Sriganganagar recording a low of 8.8 degrees Celsius while in other places temperature ranged between 12.5 and 15.5 degrees Celsius.

In Punjab and Haryana, fog reduced visibility in the
early morning hours, where minimum temperature continued to hover above the normal limits at most places.
The places affected by fog in the two states were Ludhiana, Patiala, Pathankot, Adampur, Halwara, Bathinda, Gurdaspur, Karnal and Hisar.
Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, recorded a low of 10.6 degrees Celsius, up four notches against normal, a MeT Department official said.
In Haryana, Ambala recorded a low of 10 degrees Celsius, up three notches while Hisar's minimum settled at 7.2 degrees Celsius.
In Punjab, Amritsar registered a low of 7.4 degrees Celsius, up three notches against normal. Ludhiana recorded a low of 8.8 degrees Celsius, while Patiala registered a minimum temperature of 8.2 degrees Celsius.

The hill station of Mount Abu in Rajasthan registered the lowest minimum temperature of 6 degrees Celsius followed by 6.9 degrees Celsius in Sriganganagar, 7.6 degrees Celsius in Dabok 11 degrees Celsius in Jaipur.
Night temperatures were appreciably below normal in parts of Odisha and east Madhya Pradesh and below normal in some areas of Assam and Meghalaya, gangetic West Bengal, Bihar, west Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Marathwada and Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.