N India continues to reel under severe cold, toll rises to 165

New Delhi, Jan 13: Cold wave conditions held fort across north India on Friday as the bitter chill claimed six more lives in Uttar Pradesh, taking the country-wide toll to 165 this winter.

In the national capital, it was yet another chilly day with the minimum settling at 5.3 deg C while the maximum was recorded at 18.7 degrees, both the readings being two notches below the normal level, the MeT office said.

Six more people, including two women, died overnight in the extreme weather in Uttar Pradesh, officials said, adding the fresh fatalities occurred in Fatehpur district.

Najibabad was the coldest place in the state recording a low of two deg C.

In Kashmir Valley, freezing cold prevailed. Kargil town in Ladakh recorded a minimum temperature of minus 19.6 degrees Celsius becoming the coldest place of the region this season.

Leh town, also in Ladakh region, recorded a minimum of minus 18.2 deg C, while Gulmarg skiing resort in north Kashmir settled at a low of minus 16.5 degrees, the weather office said.

Summer capital Srinagar continued to remain in the grip of intense cold as the night temperature dipped to minus 3.6 degrees Celsius.

Giving no respite to the people, biting cold prevailed in Punjab and Haryana, with mercury plummeting to several notches below normal in most parts of the region.

Adampur in Jalandhar remained the coldest place in Punjab at a shivering 0.4 degree Celsius.

Similarly, mercury in Amritsar and Narnaul dipped by upto four degrees below normal with minimum temperatures of 1.5 deg C each.

While Chandigarh had a low of 4.8 deg C, Ludhiana and Patiala recorded a minimum of 3.9 deg C and five degrees respectively, three degrees below normal.

Ambala, Karnal and Rohtak in Haryana recorded lows of 4.9 deg C, three deg C and 4.1 deg C respectively, plummeting by up to three notches, the MeT Dept said.

PTI