Unabated cold in North-West; contrasting day-night temp in HP

New Delhi, Feb 13 (UNI) The entire north-west region of the country continued to shiver under the unabated cold wave today, with the mercury plunging to minus 1.4 degrees Celsius at Amritsar and Adampur in Punjab, while the difference between the minimum and maximum temperatures across Himachal Pradesh widened considerably.

The nationwide toll rose to 232 today with a man being buried alive under snow after an avalanche struck a remote village in Thathri tehsil of Doda district in Jammu. Body of one Ghulam Nabi, 40, was exhumed from the snow at the Champara Kahara village this morning.

So far this winter, 141 deaths have been reported in Uttar Pradesh, 35 in Jammu and Kashmir, 26 in Gujarat, 16 in Himachal Pradesh, four each in Bihar and Punjab, three in Maharashtra and one each in Bihar, Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh.

Cold surface winds blew across the North-West region as the night temperatures stayed below normal by three degrees to seven degrees celsius at most places.

Cold wave to severe cold wave conditions prevailing in most parts of Punjab and many parts of Haryana were likely to continue for the next two days, according to the Weather Office.

Spine-chilling cold wave lashed the holy city of Amritsar and Adampur, near Jalandhar, as the night temperature dipped to minus 1.4 in twin towns of Punjab. The mercury was seven degrees below normal at Amritsar.

Halwara Airforce station, near Ludhiana, recorded the minimum temperature at 1.6 degrees while the border town of Pathankot was cold at 3.0 degrees celsius. Patiala and Ludhiana recorded the minimum temperature at 3.1 degrees and 4.0 degrees respectively, while Bhatinda recorded 4.2 degrees celsius.

Cold wave also swept Haryana as the minimum temperature hovered around three degrees to seven degrees below normal in the state.

The minimum dipped to 1.8 degrees, seven degrees down, at Karnal while Ambala registered 3.5 degrees, six degrees below normal.

Narnaul registered the minimum temperature at 3.7 degrees, four degrees below normal, followed by Rohtak showing 5.3 degrees.

Chandigarh recorded the minimum at 5.2 degrees Celsius.

In Himachal Pradesh, the difference between the minimum and maximum temperatures widened with day temperatures rising due to bright sunshine and severe frost pulling night temperatures down, the met office said today.

Shimla town's night temperature at point seven degrees as compared to minus point seven degree Celsius recorded yesterday was about two degrees below normal, while the day temperature of 13 degrees was three degrees above normal.

Yesterday, the state capital had recorded a maximum temperature of 9.6 degrees.

Similarly, Sundernagar, Bhuntar and Dharamshala recorded minimum temperatures of minus point three, point two and 2.1 degrees respectively, while the day temperatures rose appreciably to 22.2, 17.3 and 17.2 degrees respectively.

The met office said the minimum temperature at Kalpa was minus 8.7 degrees, while the day temperature stood at 2.4 degrees.

The famous tourist resort of Manali in Kullu district was cold at minus 2.2 degrees, while the day temperature rose to 10.6 degrees.

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