The cold wave tightened its grip in Chandigarh and neighbouring States of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh even as mercury remained close to normal level on Friday. Also, dense fog enveloped several parts of the region, causing inconvenience to the commuters.
Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana recorded minimum temperature at 11.2 degree Celsius and maximum at 25 degree Celsius.
Narnual in Haryana was coldest in the region settling at 7.5 degree Celsius, one degree below normal. Ambala settled at minimum temperature of11.4 degree Celsius while Karnal recorded 7.5 degrees.
Punjab’s industrial city-ludhiana- saw minimum temperature at 7.7 degree Celsius, down by one degree from normal. Amritsar and Patiala recorded respective minimum temperatures at 7.8 degree Celsius and 7.7 degrees.
The local Met Department has forecast partly cloudy conditions in Haryana and Punjab in next three days.
A Met official said that sharp decline in temperature level is expected in next few days as cloudy conditions are likely to be witnessed in various parts of the region in next three days.
Shallow to moderate fog would occur at isolated places during next 48 hours during morning hours in Haryana and Punjab, said the Met official.
Meanwhile, the maximum temperature on Friday recorded in Amritsar was 25.8 degree Celsius, ludhiana recorded 26.1 degrees, Patiala 26 degree Celsius, Ambala 23.2 degrees, Hissar 28 degrees and Narnaul saw a maximum temperature at 24.5 degree Celsius.
Shimla, capital of Himachal, experienced cold conditions recording minimum temperature at 10 degree Celsius. Among other places, Manali shivered at minimum temperature of 0.6 degree Celsius, Kalpa saw a low of 3.6 degree Celsius.