Kashmir valley, northwest India reel under cold conditions

New Delhi, Jan 19 (UNI) The entire Kashmir valley remained under the grip of severe cold wave while people in northwest India shivered under similar conditions today following fresh snowfall and rain in Himachal Pradesh since last night.

In the Kashmir valley, the mercury again plunging to minus 2.4 degrees at Srinagar. Jammu also recorded a decline in the minimum temperature to 5.0 degrees.

Two women were injured and as many houses damaged due to strong winds in south Kashmir, official sources said.

Meanwhile, traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway resumed after remaining suspended for three consecutive days due to landslides and snowfall.

Chilly winds blew across the Northwest region as the sun remained draped in clouds at many places during the greater part of the day in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

Cold conditions prevailed in Punjab with the holy city of Amritsar recording the minimum at minus 1.2 degrees.

Patiala and Ludhiana also reeled under cold with the minimum staying low, recording 5.4 and 4.1 degrees respectively.

In Haryana, mercury settled at 3.0 degrees at Narnaul in Mahendergarh district, followed by Karnal at 5.4 and Ambala 5.5 and Hissar 7.5 degrees respectively.

In Himachal Pradesh, tribal areas of Kalpa in Kinnuar district recorded the night temperature at minus 5.5 degrees. The minimum temperature was 7.1 at Sundernagar, 6.3 at Mandi, 2.5 at Bhuntar and 4.2 degrees at Una.

Icy cold winds following rains lashed Shimla with the night temperature dropping to 0.4 degrees.

Chandigarh recorded a sharp fall in night temperature at 6.0 degrees.

The national capital experienced chilly weather with the mercury plunging to 7.5 degrees.

Rain or thundershowers have occurred at a few places in Arunachal Pradesh and at isolated places in Assam, Meghalaya, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, east Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.

Mainly dry weather prevailed in Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Gangetic West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, west Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

UNI team PB AT AS1906