Mumbai records 9.4 deg; cold wave continues in North India

New Delhi, Feb 6 (UNI) Mercury dipped to an unprecedented low of 9.4 degrees Celsius in Mumbai today as the cold wave maintained an icy grip on North West India, with some places in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh recording -8.7 degrees.

The toll in the cold wave stands at 202 with 141 deaths in Uttar Pradesh, 23 in Jammu and Kashmir, 15 in Gujarat, ten in Himachal Pradesh, four each in Bihar and Punjab, three in Maharashtra and one each in Bihar and Sikkim.

Mumbai, in Maharashtra, touched the lowest in the last 58 years at 9.4 degrees.

At Colaba, the minimum was 13 degrees. The cold weather continued in Nashik with the minimum temperature recorded at 6.2 degrees. In Pune, it was 8.4 degrees and in Aurangabad it was 13 degrees.

Higher reaches in Himachal Pradesh had another spell of snowfall while lower areas of the state had rain, bringing a considerable fall in the temperature in the hilly state.

Tribal districts of Lahaul Spiti and Kinnaur, Bharmour and Pangi areas in Chamba district and high hills in Kullu districts, including the 13050-foot high Rohtang Pass, experienced a fresh snowfall.

Kalpa in Kinnaur district recorded minus 8.7 degrees while all lakes, including Chander Tal lake in Lahaul Spiti district, and several natural water sources in tribal areas have already frozen due to extreme cold conditions.

Shimla also had snowfall since last night where the minimum temperature dropped to zero degree. The 320-km Hindustan-Tibet road was blocked at several places due to snowfall.

Heavy snowfall in the Kashmir valley forced the authorities to sound a fresh alert of avalanches where life remained paralysed for the second consecutive day.

However, the minimum temperature has improved from minus 6 last week to plus 0.4 degrees this morning.

A Defence spokesman in Srinagar said there would be no question of lowering the guard on the Line of Control (LoC) despite unprecedented snowfall, threat of avalanches and biting cold.

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