Mercury shoots up in Northwest, nationwide toll mounts to 105

New Delhi, Jan 8 (UNI) After an intense cold wave, the mercury today shot up across North India with an increase in day and night temperatures.

Meanwhile, the nationwide toll due to cold wave mounted to 105 with five more deaths reported from Uttar Pradesh, including four in Mainpuri and one in Robertsganj. The toll mounted to 85 in the state.

The toll includes nine in Gujarat, four each in Bihar and Punjab, two in Himachal Pradesh and one in Jammu and Kashmir.

While, the night temperatures at Bareilly, Jhansi, Kanpur and Meerut divisions were recorded above normal in the past 24 hours, the night temperatures at Allahabad, Lucknow, Meerut and Agra divisions were increasing.

Sultanpur stood the coldest in the state with a minimum temperature of 7.5 degrees Celsius while the minimum in Lucknow was recorded at 8.6 degrees.

Cold wave conditions sweeping Delhi further abated with a sharp rise in mercury. The cloud cover in the skyline and the reversal of the wind flow in city resulted in the minimum temperature shooting up to 9.6 degrees, from 7.8 degree yesterday. The maximum also shot up to 28 degrees.

High altitude areas in Himachal Pradesh had another spell of snowfall while isolated areas in the plains in Northwest region experienced rain today, renewing cold climatic conditions.

A piercing cold wave lashed the tribal districts of Lahaul spiti and Kinnaur and Pangi valley and Bharmour area in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh following snowfall. The mercury hovered minus 1.8 degrees celsius at Kalpa in Kinnaur district.

The 13050-foot high Rohtang Pass also experienced snowfall, renewing cold conditions in Kullu and Kangra districts.

Lower areas of Himachal Pradesh, including Dharamsala, Guler, Nagrota Surian, Bhuntar and Sundernagar, were lashed by rain overnight. Although, state capital Shimla reported rise in the temperature to 5.6 degrees, icy-cold winds blew across the town and tourist places of Wildflower Hall, Kufri, Naldehra and Narkanda following rain, forcing the tourists to stay indoors.

The minimum temperature stayed two degrees above normal in Punjab.

However, Amritsar at 6.2 degrees remained the coldest place in the state, followed by Patiala recording 8.9 degrees and Ludhiana registering 9.1 degrees. Jalandhar and Amritsar experienced rain.

In Haryana, the minimum hovered four degrees to six degrees above normal. Ambala, which experienced mild rain last night, recorded a minimum of 8.8 degrees while Narnaul recorded 10.0 degrees, five degrees above normal and Karnal 10.8 degrees. Hissar showed 10.9 degrees.

Chandigarh and its adjoining areas were also lashed by rain following an overcast sky. However, the city recorded an increase in the minimum temperature to 10.8 degrees.

Temperature hovered in Srinagar and Jammu recording 1.0 degrees and 13.9 degrees respectively.

In Patna, the maximum temperature rose a degree more than yesterday's 25.6 degrees. The local met office said the minimum temperature also hovered around 10 degrees Celsius as against eight degrees yesterday.

Bright and sunny weather gave respite to the people of Kolkata from the past few days of severe cold.

The Alipore Met department had recorded the maximum temperature at 27 degrees Celsius with minimum of 14 degrees Celsius.

The weatherman said cold wave conditions prevailed at isolated places in north interior Karnataka.

Night temperatures were appreciably below normal in some parts of Jharkhand and south interior Karnataka, and were below normal in some parts of Orissa, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.

Night temperatures were markedly above normal in Jammu and Rajasthan, and in some parts of Uttaranchal, Haryana and Punjab. They were appreciably above normal in Kashmir and in some parts of west Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat. They were above normal in some parts of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, east Uttar Pradesh, north Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Vidarbha, Chattisgarh and coastal Karnataka.

Rain or thundershowers have occurred at isolated places in Haryana, Punjab, west Rajasthan and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Mainly dry weather prevailed in Uttar Pradesh, east Rajasthan and Lakshadweep.

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