Many places in the plains of north India like Narnaul, ludhiana, Patiala and Hisar on Monday remained colder than hilly tourist destinations Shimla, Dharamsala and Nahan in Himachal Pradesh.
In Punjab, ludhiana was the coldest city in the region with the minimum temperature settling at 3.3 degrees Celsius, down by four notches from the normal level. Patiala and Amritsar recorded the lows of 5.4 and 6.7 degrees Celsius respectively.
Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana recorded minimum temperature at 6.8 degree Celsius. Among other places in the region, Ambala in Haryana settled at minimum temperature of 7.5 degrees, Karnal saw 5 degrees and Hisar recorded 4.5 degree Celsius, continuing in the grip of severe cold conditions.
The maximum temperature recorded was 20.6 degree Celsius in Ambala, 21.4 degree Celsius in Amritsar, 21.7 degrees in ludhiana, 22.3 degrees Patiala, 22.7 degrees in Chandigarh and 25 degrees in Hisar.
Meanwhile, hill stations across Himachal Pradesh have been experiencing long hours of sunny weather for the past few days and the temperatures in most places have risen.
According to the Meteorological Department, the maximum temperature in the hill state rose by two-three degrees since Sunday. The rise was abnormal, remaining three-four degrees Celsius above the season's average.
Shimla, Himachal Pradesh's capital recorded a low of 6.6 degrees Celsius, five degrees above normal. Even ludhiana, Hisar and Karnal in Punjab and Haryana were colder than Himachal's Dharamsala and Nahan which respectively settled a lows of 5.8 degrees and 7.9 degree Celsius.
However, picturesque tourist resort Manali was in the grip of bone-chilling conditions settling at minus 1.8 degrees. At 9.3 degrees below the freezing point, Keylong in lahaul-Spiti district was the coldest in Himachal.
The weather conditions in Himachal's popular destinations like Kasauli, Chail, Kufri, Narkanda and Palampur are expected to be sunny. Among other places in Himachal, Kalpa recorded minimum temperature at minus 0.6 degree Celsius, Solan 1.5 degrees, Sundernagar 1.5 degree Celsius, Una 3.2 degrees Celsius and Kangra 4.2 degrees.
A Met official said that the day temperature in most of the plains is abnormally high compared to Shimla. The warm air lifted from the plains overlaid the existing cold air in the mountains. Since Shimla was near the plains, the impact of inversion layer was more here.
This trend would continue in the hills till the western disturbances -- storm systems originating from the Caspian Sea and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region -- would be active in the region, he added.
According to the Chandigarh Met Department forecast, weather is very likely to be dry during 12 hours and light rain/thundershowers are likely to occur at isolated places during subsequent 24 hours in Punjab and Haryana
Moderate to dense fog at isolated places during next 36 hours in both the states, predicted the Met Department.