Shimla records warmest night in 5 yrs, Amritsar coldest in plains

New Delhi, Jan 25 (UNI) Cold surface winds blew across Punjab even though cold wave conditions completely eased in Himachal Pradesh with Shimla recording one of its hottest nights last night in five years.

Amritsar in Punjab was the coldest place in the plains at one degree Celsius, four degrees below normal. The mercury in the holy city rose from 0.5 degrees recorded yesterday.

''The minimum temperature at Shimla soared to 9.5 degrees, recording its warmest night last night in five years. The night temperature is 7.5 degrees above normal,'' Met office Director Manmohan Singh told UNI.

He said the capital city of Himachal Pradesh had recorded one of its warmest nights five years ago in in January, 2002, when it recorded minimum temperature of over nine degrees.

Mr Singh said the coldwave conditions have completely eased in Himachal with maximum temperature in Shimla being 6.5 degrees above normal as day temperature rose to 17.6 degree today.

The extreme warmth during winters was due to western disturbance, which was over Pakistan today, travelling northwards, and was likely to continue for another two days before temperatures begin to dip again, he said.

He said the minimum and maximum temperatures across the state would continue to rise until the disturbance crossed over the state on Saturday.

The death toll remained at 180 with no fatalities due to the weather reported from anywhere in the country. Altogether 120 deaths were reported in the cold wave in Uttar Pradesh, 35 in Bihar, 20 in Punjab and Haryana and five in North Bengal.

A thick fog blanketed several areas in the northwest India, including Bhatinda, Amritsar, Adampur, Sarsawa, Hindon and Palam in Delhi, reducing visibility considerably at these places. The fog, however, vanished as the day progressed.

Cold surface winds blew across Punjab. The minimum remained at one degree below normal at Ludhiana recording 4.8 degrees while Patiala was at 6.8 degrees.

According to the Met department, cold wave prevailing in some parts of Punjab and Haryana, is likely to abate during the next two days.

In Haryana, the minimum hovered at 4.5 degrees at Narnaul while Ambala recorded a low of 4.6 degrees, two degrees below normal. Karnal registered 7.0 degrees, Hissar 7.4 degrees and Rohtak 9.4 degrees.

Cold wave conditions prevailed in certain areas of Himachal Pradesh.

Kullu valley was under the influence of cold climatic conditions as the temperature remained low. The minimum hovered 0.7 degrees at Bhuntar in Kullu district and at 1.3 degrees at Sundernagar in Mandi district.

Although the mercury rose in Chandigarh but it stayed below normal. The city registered the minimum at 6.4 degrees, two degrees below normal.

The Met department has predicted light to moderate rain or snow at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh and light to moderate rain or thundershowers at isolated places in Punjab and Haryana during the next 24 hours.

The City of Joy experienced a warm morning as the minimum temperature rose to 13.7 degrees against 12 degrees yesterday.

Rajasthan also got some respite from the extreme cold conditions with the temperature going up on an average of three degrees.

The minimum temperature in Ganganagar increased to 4.8 degrees while in Churu the temperature shot up to 5.8 degrees from 3.5 degrees yesterday.

Jaipur recorded seven degrees while in Mount Abu the temperature rose to 5.6 degrees.

The cold wave sweeping through the national capital Delhi over the past three weeks abated today with the mercury rising sharply to 7.3 degrees.

The warmth in the air brought about yesterday persisted for the second consecutive day. The minimum temperature rose from 5.3 degrees yesterday.

The maximum temperature also rose to 23 degrees, from 22.7 degrees yesterday.

Cold Wave conditions prevailed at isolated places in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Night temperature was appreciably below normal in Jharkhand and in some parts of Orissa, Bihar, west Madhya Pradesh, and was below normal in some parts of Assam, Meghalaya, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, east Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, north Chattisgarh, south interior Karnataka and Kerala.

Night temperature was appreciably to markedly above normal in some parts of Uttaranchal, Gujarat, north Konkan, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada and coastal Andhra Pradesh.

The tempoerature at night was above normal in some parts of Telangana, south Konkan and Goa, coastal Tamil Nadu and remaining parts of sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, Gujarat, and coastal Andhra Pradesh. It was normal acoss the rest of the country.

Rain or snow was likely to occur at isolated places in Jammu and Kashmir, while rain or thundershowers was likely to occur at isolated places in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghlaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

UNI