Winter chill tightens its grip on North India

NEW DELHI: Cold wave further tightened its grip on North India today as temperature in several parts of the region plummeted due to icy winds with Hisar in Haryana hitting a low of freezing point.

In Delhi, it was clear sky but a chilly day as cold winds swept across the national capital.

The maximum temperature was recorded at 20 degrees Celsius, which was a notch below the normal, while the minimum was 4.9 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal for this time of the year.

Hisar in Haryana recorded minimum temperature at zero degree Celsius as MeT Department warned of ground frost hitting several places in the state and neighbouring Punjab.

Hisar recorded minimum temperature at zero degree C, dropping by six notches below normal, MeT department officials said.

In Punjab, Adampur was the coldest place as it recorded minimum at 1.3 degrees C.

Higher up, the minimum temperatures stayed below the freezing point in the Kashmir Valley while Leh, the frontier region of Ladakh, was the coldest place in the state at -14.9 degrees Celsius.

Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, registered a low of -1.9 degrees Celsius, a drop of over one degree as compared to -0.6 degree Celsius the previous night.

Kargil town, which recorded the coldest night of the season at -15.7 degrees Celsius on Friday, registered an increase of one degree in the minimum temperature as the mercury settled at a low of -14.6 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile in Himachal Pradesh, the minimum temperature hovered around freezing point at most places.

The mercury plummeted to -9.1 degree and -5.6 degree at Keylong and Kalpa in tribal Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur districts respectively.

The high altitude tribal areas and other higher reaches groaned under biting cold wave conditions with mercury staying between -12 and -22 degree C.

All natural sources in tribal areas have been frozen from past one month, drastically reducing the discharge of water in snow-fed Sutlej, Ravi and Beas rivers which has caused sharp fall in hydropower generation.