Rains, wind keep mercury down in northern India

New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) Heavy rains accompanied bythunder squall today caught Delhiites unaware, while chillywinds and rains brought down temperature in northern states ofHimachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.

The national capital, where rain led to water-loggingin various stretches, received a total of 8.6 mm rainfall in aspan of few hours, the MeT office said.

The maximum temperature was recorded at 26.4 deg C,while the minimum settled at 10.3 deg C.

The intense cold wave sweeping Himachal Pradeshcontinued today with chilly winds blowing across the region.

The minimum temperature dropped to 1.7 deg C and 2.2deg in capital Shimla and Solan, while Sundernagar, Bhuntarand Dharamsala recorded a low of 4.8 deg C, three deg belownormal.

Keylong and Kapla in tribal Lahaul and Spiti andKinnaur districts recorded minimum temperatures of minus 8.1deg C and minus 4 deg C.

Day temperature, however, rose to 8 deg C in Keylong,nine degree above normal.

The maximum day temperature dropped by few notches tostay at 11.6 deg C in Shimla, 14.5 deg C in Bhuntar, 16.4 degC in Dharamsala, 17.4 deg C in Mandi and 17.3 deg C in Solan.

The higher reaches in Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur, keytourist resort of Manali and adjoining ski slopes at Solanghad another spell of moderate snowfall, while Seobag,Saloni and Kumarsein had sharp showers.

Kalpa and Manali recorded 5 cm of fresh snow whileRohtang Pass received 30 cm of fresh snow.

Cold also continued in Punjab and Haryana with manyparts of the two states registering below normal temperatures.

Karnal in Haryana registered a minimum of 7.8 deg C,two points below normal, while Rohtak settled at 9.3 deg C,down by one degree.

Ambala registered a low of 9.2 deg C, down one degree,and Bhiwani settled at 8.4 deg C, also down by a notch.

Ludhiana settled at a low of 6.6 deg C, down by twodegrees, while Patiala recorded a minimum of 7 deg C, twopoints below normal.

Chandigarh recorded a low of 9.3 deg C.

Fog reduced visibility at Karnal, Rohtak and Amritsar.

Weather remains cloudy in Rajasthan

Weather remained partly cloudy in the desert state ofRajasthan, where a few places received rains.

Sriganganagar, Churu and Bikaner recorded 5.4 mm, 4 mmand 0.5 mm of rainfall till evening, according to MeT officehere.

Parts of the state recorded night temperatures in therange of 3 deg C to 17 deg C, while day temperatures remainedin the range of 14.3 deg C to 27.4 deg C.