Moderate to thick fog affected normal life in several parts of Punjab and Haryana on Wednesday morning, slowing road and railway traffic.
The weather officials here said that a thick blanket of fog was witnessed in Amritsar city in the morning and the visibility was reduced to just 50 metres at some places.Moderate fog was witnessed in the industrial city of ludhiana and some other places. In Chandigarh, the visibility was down to about 100 metres in some areas. However, sunshine was seen around 10 am.
In Haryana, moderate to thick fog was witnessed in Karnal and Kurukshetra districts. Fog was also witnessed in Ambala and Bhiwani districts, officials said.The cold wave continued to sweep Chandigarh and its neighbouring States of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday. Punjab’s holy city Amritsar was the coldest in the region and shivered at minimum temperature of 1 degree Celsius, down by three notches from normal while Narnaul in Haryana settled at a minimum of 2.7 degree Celsius, three notches below normal. Chandigarh witnessed minimum temperature at 6.8 degree Celsius while the maximum temperature recorded was 18.2 degree Celsius, three degrees down from normal level.
According to the Met Department, days would be mainly sunny in Haryana and Punjab during next 24 hours and partly cloudy conditions would be witnessed thereafter in the region. And, mist or shallow fog may occur at some places in the neighboring States during morning hours in next 24 hours, said a Met official.The Met Department has forecast partly cloudy conditions on December 18 and 19.A Met official said that the minimum temperature levels were recorded upto four notches below normal while maximum temperature settled upto nine degrees below normal in some parts of the region on Wednesday.
In Himachal Pradesh where life was returning to normal after heavy sonwfall in Shimla and several places, the minimum temperature was at 2 degree Celsius in the state Capital, down by two degrees from normal and recorded maximum temperature at 13.5 degree Celsius. Among other places, Manali settled at low temperature of minus 4.8 degree Celsius, Kalpa recorded minus 3.8 degree Celsius, Solan recorded 0.5 degrees, Sunder Nagar 0.3 degrees, Una 2 degree Celsius, Bhuntar minus 2.6 degrees, Nahan 3.7 degree Celsius and Dharamshala recorded 4 degree Celsius.