Mercury falls below freezing point, 4 killed in UP

Lucknow, Jan 31 (UNI) Even as cold wave continued unbated in Uttar Pradesh, mercury fell below freezing point in Saharanpur breaking all the previous records of this season.

UP is currently under the jaws of extreme cold conditions due to rains in upper reaches of Uttarakhand.

According to Met department, ''cold wave had gripped parts of UP since last couple of days and no respite is expected in the coming days.'' In the last 24 hrs, Meerut, Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Allahabad, Jhansi, Bareilly, Faizabad and Agra witnessed a dip in the night temperatures.

Saharanpur was the coldest recording -1 degrees Celsius temperature. Earlier, Sarsava in Saharanpur had touched zero degrees.

Lucknow registered 7.2 degrees C, followed by Bareilly 6.2 and Allahabad 9.0.

In Kanpur and holy city Allahabad, life has gone out of gear, following piercing winds prevailing in the city since last few days.

The minimum temparature dropped to 5.5 degrees against yesterday's 6.5 degrees. The maximum temparature was 18 degrees against yesterday's 17 degrees in Kanpur.

According to reports, cold wave killed three persons, including two siblings, in Siddharthnagar and a youth in Gorakhpur.

Meanwhile, the weather experts forecast mainly dry weather in the next 24 hrs.

UNI ATI PDM SP HS1852