Cold conditions ease in plains, hills continue to shiver

New Delhi, Jan 17: Cold wave conditions today eased a little in northern plains though winter continued its grip across hills of Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Foggy conditions, however, continued to disrupt road, rail and air traffic in many areas of the region.

In the national capital, it was a pleasant day with the mercury registering an increase. The maximum temperature in Delhi settled at 21.1 degrees Celsius, a notch above the season's average while the minimum stood at 8.4 degrees.

According to officials, early morning fog disrupted operations of 30 flights at the Indira Gandhi International Airport and 55 north-bound trains including premiere services like Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto.

People across Punjab and Haryana also got partial relief from the chill as day temperatures rose at most places even as fog continued to affect rail and air services.

Chandigarh recorded a maximum temperature of 22.5 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal. At most other places too, day temperatures settled above normal level including at Ambala (21.2 degrees Celsius), Hisar (20.2), Karnal (21), Ludhiana (20.4 ), Patiala (20.2) and Amritsar (19.9).

Minimum temperatures too hovered close to normal level. Two flights from Delhi to Chandigarh had to be cancelled while two others were late due to inclement weather.

Some trains were also running late, officials said. Mercury also hovered around normal levels in Rajasthan, even as fog disrupted normal life in several parts of the state.

Churu in the plains remained the state's coldest at 5.1 degrees Celsius, followed by Kota 5.6 degrees. Mount Abu, the state's sole hill station, registered a minimum of 1 degree Celsius.

Meanwhile, cold wave tightened its grip in Kashmir and Ladakh regions as minimum temperatures dropped by around a degree in Kashmir Valley and plunged by five notches in Ladakh region.

"A fresh western disturbance is likely to affect Jammu and Kashmir from January 20 onwards," a MeT official said. Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, registered a dip of a degree in the night temperature which settled at minus 3.3 degrees Celsius compared to minus 2.3 degrees Celsius the previous night.

PTI