There was respite from severe
wintry conditions today in most parts of North India barring Jammu and Kashmir where cold wave further tightened its grip.
In the national capital, it was a relatively warm day as the sun shone bright and maximum temperature rose to settle at 25.1 degrees Celsius, highest for this time of the season in last five years.
The minimum was recorded at 8.5 degrees Celsius, a notch above the normal, according to a MeT official.
In the desert state of Rajasthan, night temperature marginally rose in many areas with Sriganganagar recording the lowest temperature 6.1 degrees Celsius. Churu, Pilani, Jaipur, Dabok and Jaisalmer districts recorded night temperature of 7.1, 8.6, 11, 11.8 and 12.2 degree Celsius, respectively.
Due to foggy conditions, six trains were running late in the state. According to a North Western Railway spokesperson, Howrah-Sriganganagar, Howrah-Jodhpur, Sealdah-Ajmer, Gorakhpur-Hisar, Varanasi-Jodhpur and Allahabad-Jaipur were running late by up to 6 hours 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, the cold wave further tightened its grip over Jammu and Kashmir as the night temperature dropped at several places even as Leh was recorded the coldest place in the state at minus 13.2 degrees Celsius, followed by nearby Kargil which recorded a minimum of minus 9.0 degrees Celsius.
With a low of minus 7.5 degrees Celsius, Gulmarg in north Kashmir remained the coldest recorded place in the Kashmir Valley, which is currently under the grip of the 40-day harsh winter period known as 'Chillai-Kalan'.
Pahalgam hill resort in south Kashmir, which serves as a base camp during the annual Amarnath yatra, recorded a low of minus 5.4 degrees Celsius.
The minimum temperature in Srinagar settled at minus 3.3 degrees Celsius. Kupwara town in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 3.6 degrees Celsius. Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir along Srinagar-Jammu national highway, recorded a minimum of minus 2.4 degrees Celsius against minus 0.6 degrees Celsius the previous night.
The higher reaches of Kashmir received light snowfall
while plains received intermittent rains even as the minimum temperature went down slightly at some places in the Valley.
Gulmarg, the famous ski-resort in north Kashmir, received fresh snowfall during the night, and the minimum temperature went down over three notches to settle at minus 6.5 degrees Celsius.
The MeT official said for the second consecutive day, the mercury in all the recorded places in the Valley, except Gulmarg, settled above the freezing point.
Most of the areas in the plains of the Valley received intermittent rains overnight with the north Kashmir town of Kupwara recording rainfall of 12.3 mm, he said.
The mercury there settled at a low of 0.6 degree Celsius, the official said.
Mercury in Srinagar decreased by over a degree from the previous night's 3.1 degrees Celsius to settle at a low of 1.8 degree Celsius.
The city recorded 4.2 mm of rainfall during the night.
The night temperature in the hill resort of Pahalgam in south Kashmir went down by a degree to settle at a low of 0.3 degree Celsius. The resort recorded 8 mm of rainfall.
The night temperature in Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir Valley, remained same at 2.6 degrees Celsius, he said, adding it recorded 6.2 mm of rains.
Kokernag, also in south Kashmir, registered a low of 1.3 degrees Celsius and recorded 4.4 mm of rainfall.
The night temperature in Leh, in Ladakh region, went down from the previous night's low of minus 6.5 degrees Celsius to settle at a low of minus 7.3 degrees Celsius.
