Thaindian News

New Delhi, Dec 24 (IANS) Season’s lowest of 3.3 degrees Celsius in Delhi, a stinging minus 3.3 in Srinagar, a freezing Amritsar, sub-zero level in Rohtak - north India Saturday continued to reel under the intense cold with no respite in sight in the next few days.

As many as 20 flights were delayed in different parts of the country due to foggy conditions. In most places of Punjab, Haryana, and in Delhi and Agra, the chilly morning was followed by a bright and sunny day.

It was the coldest Dec 24 in the capital in last five years as the minimum temperature settled at 3.3 degrees. “On Dec 24, 2010, the minimum temperature recorded was seven degrees,” an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official told IANS.

Agra, the city of the Taj, saw the minimum temperature settling at 2.8 degrees Celsius.

Mercury slid to 0.8 degree in Rohtak town of Haryana, and hit the freezing point at Amritsar city in Punjab. Both places in the northern plains were much colder than the Himachal Pradesh hill station of Shimla, which recorded a low of 4.2 degrees.

For yet another year, it was a snowless Christmas eve in Shimla with clear skies and bone-chilling winds.

Hisar in Haryana recorded a low barely 0.3 degree above the freezing point while Chandigarh recorded a minimum of 1.9 degrees, three notches below normal.

In Himachal, Keylong was the coldest at a minimum of minus 6.1 degrees. Manali recorded minus 0.4 and Solan minus 1.7.

The free fall of mercury continued in the Kashmir Valley as well with Srinagar recording a low of minus 3.3 degrees. In the ski resort of Gulmarg, the minimum temperature was minus 11.6 degrees while Leh town was the coldest in the state at minus 15 degrees.

“The night temperatures are likely to fall further. Kashmir would have to do with a snowless Christmas and New Year’s eve this season,” Sonam Lotus, director of the meteorological office, told IANS.