Rains bring down mercury in north India

New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI) Overnight rains and chilly windsbrought mercury down by a few notches in several parts of thenorthern region today with an intense cold wave tightening itsgrip over upper reaches of Himachal Pradesh.

Minimum temperatures hovered between one to three degreeCelsius below normal level in most parts of Punjab and Haryanaas some places witnessed mist and fog in the morning.

Amritsar was the coldest place in the two states with alow of 6.5 degree Celsius, which was one notch below normal.

In Haryana, Hisar and Karnal settled at a minimumtemperature of 8 and 8.2 degree Celsius respectively, boththree degrees below normal, while the minimum at Narnaul was8.3 deg C, one notch below normal.

Ludhiana and Patiala in Punjab registered theirrespective lows of 9.4 and 7.7 deg C. Chandigarh too settledat a low of 7.7 deg C.

People in the national capital experienced some chill inthe air following overnight rains. The minimum temperature wasrecorded at 11.5 degree Celsius which was a degree belownormal for this time of the season. The minimum temperatureyesterday was recorded at 10.1 degrees.

The cold wave sweeping the mid and high hills ofHimachal further tightened its grip as day temperaturesdropped by a few notches, as the sky remained overcast withicy winds blowing across the region.

Tourist resorts of Manali and Kalpa in tribal Kinnaurdistrict recorded 10 cm of fresh snow while high altitudeareas reeled under freezing cold wave conditions.

The state capital, Shimla, and Solan recorded a minimumtemperature of 2.5 deg C, two degrees below normal, whileDharamsala and Sundernagar recorded a low of 4.7 and 4.6 deg Crespectively -- three degree below normal.

Gohar in Mandi district was the wettest in the statewith 21 mm of rains while Bhuntar and Seobagh received 7.6 mmand 6 mm of rains.

Meanwhile, the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment inChandigarh warned of a medium danger avalanche in some areasof Jammu and Kashmir, including areas above 2,500 metersaltitude of Chowkiwal Tangdhar and Bandipur Gurez sector inKupwara during the next two days.