3 more die in UP, unabated cold continues to sweep NW India

New Delhi, Dec 30 (UNI) The unabated intense cold wave killed three more people in Uttar Pradesh taking the nationwide toll to 85 as mercury fell further in most parts of Northwest India.

Uttar Pradesh reported 69 deaths this winter, Gujarat six, Bihar and Punjab four each and Himachal Pradesh two.

In Uttar Pradesh Mirzapur and Kaushambi reported two and one deaths respectively. Due to intense cold and fog, railways and road traffic were affected badly in the state.

According to Met department, Agra was recorded coldest with 3.4 degrees Celsius, which is five degrees below normal temperature.

The Kashmir valley last night witnessed the coldest night in several decades as the minimum temperature dipped to minus 7.1 degrees Celsius, freezing major parts of the world famous Dal Lake.

People in Leh, Kargil and Drass, the second coldest place in the world after Siberia, continued to shiver after the temperature dipped to minus 20 degrees to minus 25 degrees Celsius.

In Jammu it was low at 4.4 degrees and in Udhampur it plunged to minus 1.8 degrees Celsius.

In Punjab the Adampur airbase today witnessed the coldest day of the season as the mercury dipped to minus two degrees Celsius.

In the holy city of Amritsar, the mercury plummeted to minus one degree Celsius while the minimum temperature in Pathankot was recorded at 5.2 degrees and in Bathinda the mercury dipped to 3.8 degrees Celsius.

Cold wave conditions prevailed in some parts of Rajasthan, Saurashtra, Kutch.

The mercury rose marginally to 4.3 degrees Celsius in the national capital today after dipping to the season's lowest at 3.9 degrees Celsius yesterday. It was a mainly clear morning with the minimum visibility recorded at 500 metres.

Rain or snow are likely to occur at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Mainly dry weather will prevail over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Gangetic West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan and Lakshadweep.

The National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (NCMRWF) has forecast a dry and chilly weather till January 3 across the Northeast. The day and night temperatures may drop by one to two degrees Celsius over normal and overall both the temperatures may vary from 23-24 and 9-11 degrees Celsius respectively.

Temperature is appreciably to markedly above normal in Andhra Pradesh and in some parts of Assam, Meghalaya, Marathwada, Vidarbha and interior Karnataka and were above normal in some parts of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, south Madhya Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, coastal Karnataka and in remaining parts of Madhya Pradesh and interior Karnataka. It was normal over the rest of the country.

UNI