North India basks in bright sunshine as mercury rises

New Delhi, Feb 19 (UNI) Northern India basked in bright sunshine today as the mercury rose at many places in the region but hovered below normal.

The minimum tempratures stayed one degree to three degrees celsius below normal in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh where the weather is likely to be sunny tomorrow.

In Srinagar, bodies of two more soldiers and as many porters, who were buried alive under an avalanche in Uri sector on January 8, were recovered today after 41-days.

Search for remaining two porters was still going on, official sources said.

The nationwide toll in the winter stood at 235 with 141 deaths in Uttar Pradesh, 38 in Jammu and Kashmir, 26 in Gujarat, 16 in Himachal Pradesh, four each in Bihar and Punjab, three in Maharashtra and one each in Bihar, Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh.

The night temperatures declined in parts of Himachal Pradesh and biting cold wave continued unrelentingly in the tribal areas of the state. The minimum temperature further fell at Kalpa in tribal Kinnaur district, recording minus 6.0 degrees.

Shimla and its adjoining areas also recorded a decline in the minimum with the capital town showing 4.1 degrees.

Rain or snow are likely to occur at isolated places in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Delhi moved towards spring with the mercury continuing its upwards movement for the third consecutive day today.

The minimum temperature dropped slightly to 9.3 degrees. However, the warmth in the air persisted with the maximum rising to 26.4 degree, one degree above normal.

In Punjab, night temperature witnessed a steep rise in Punjab.

Amritsar and Patiala recorded the minimum temperatures at 5.3 degrees and 7.0 degrees which was still three degrees below normal.

However, the mercury slightly dipped at Ludhiana from 6.9 degrees to 6.3 degrees.

The weatherman said mainly dry weather will prevail in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat. Night temperature also showed an upward trend since the weekend in most parts of Uttar Pradesh.

Towards the east, rain or thundershowers have occured and are likely to occur at a few places in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, at isolated places in West Bengal, Sikkim, north Orisss and Jharkhand.

In the southern part of the country, mainly dry weather will prevail in Konkan, Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Telangana, Rayalaseema, north Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Rain or thundershowers are likely to occur at a few places in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and at isolated places coastal Andhra Pradesh, south Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Lakshadweep.

Night temperatures were appreciably above normal in some parts of Telangana and were above normal in some parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

UNI Team AKJ MIR KP1917