Cold kills 8 more in UP; Delhi gets some respite

The mercury on Monday slid further in many parts of north India, claiming eight more lives in Uttar Pradesh, even as Delhiites got some respite from the bone-chilling cold with the day temperature rising by over four degrees.

Cold wave claimed two lives each in Uttar Pradesh's Hardoi, Kannauj and Siddharth Nagar districts, while one death was reported from Gonda and Fatehpur, taking the statewide toll to 89 this season.

Etawah and Orai at 2 degrees Celsius each were the coldest places in the state.

The state capital Lucknow recorded a low of 5 degree Celsius, two notches below normal, while it was minimum 4 degress Celsius in Varanasi and 4.7 degrees Celsius in Kanpur.

Meanwhile, there was some respite from bone-chilling cold in Delhi as the day temperature rose by over four degrees, though an icy wind blowing at nine km per hour created trouble for citizens in the morning hours.

The minimum temperature fell to 4.7 degrees Celsius, two points below normal, but as the day progressed, the maximum rose to 15.6 degrees Celsius, five notches below normal.

Sunday was the coldest day in the past five years with the maximum sliding to 11 degrees C, ten degrees below normal, and minimum to 5 degrees C.

There was also no dense fog and airport functioned without any delays or problems, the regular feature for the past three days.

However, fog in other parts of north India had its ripple effect in the national capital as Railways cancelled seven trains from Delhi and rescheduled two of them, while more than 65 trains ran late.

The high altitude of Himachal Pradesh shivered under sub-zero temperature as the mercury plummeted to a low of -15.4 deg C in Keylong and -5 deg C in Kalpa in Kinnaur district.

The state capital Shimla recorded a low of 3.6 deg C, while it was -0.5 deg C in Bhuntar.

Elsewhere, Sundernagar recorded a minimum temperature of 0.1 deg C, Solan 0.5 deg C, Mandi 1.4 deg C and Dharamsala 3.1 deg C.

The cold wave intensified in Jammu and Kashmir with Leh recording a low of -20.2 deg C as against -13 deg C on Sunday.

The nearby Kargil town recorded -15.8 deg Celsius. The temperature settled at a low of -2.2 deg C in Srinagar.

The famous hill resort of Pahalgam in south Kashmir was the coldest place in the Valley, recording a low of -11.7 deg C, which was 2.7 degrees lower than Sunday.

Gulmarg, a skiing resort in north Kashmir, recorded a minimum temperature of -11 deg C, which was 3.3 notches down from Sunday.

The desert state of Rajasthan also continued to shiver with Mount Abu recording a low of -4.2 deg C, while Churu was coldest in the plains with the minimum settling at 0.4 deg C.

Intense cold conditions threw normal life out of gear in Punjab and Haryana where the minimum temperature dipped by four degrees below normal.

Dense fog engulfing the region reduced visibility to just few metres, hampering movement of rail and road traffic.

Narnaul in Haryana was coldest with a low of 1.2 deg C, four notches below normal, while Hisar braved a minimum temperature of 3 deg C, two notches below normal.