Punjab and Haryana continued to be under the cold spell with the minimum temperatures hovering few notches below normal in both the States on Friday. In the hill State of Himachal Pradesh, temperature plunged below the freezing point in several places.
Narnaul in Haryana was the coldest in the region recording minimum temperature at 3 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal.
The temperatures in Hisar and Karnal settled at 3.7 degrees Celsius and 4.6 degrees Celsius, respectively, dropping by three degrees below normal each. Ambala recorded minimum temperature at 7.9 degrees Celsius.
Chandigarh, joint capital of Punjab and Haryana settled at minimum temperature of 5.6 degrees Celsius, down by a degree below normal.
In neighboring Punjab, Amritsar, ludhiana and Patiala recorded a low of 3.2 degrees Celsius, 6.2 degrees Celsius and 6.4 degrees Celsius, respectively, down by one degree each below normal.
The Met Department has forecast sunny days in the region in next 24 hours. Also, moderate to dense fog would occur at isolated pockets of Haryana and Punjab during next 48 hours, predicted the Met Department.
In Himachal, popular tourist destination Shimla saw the season’s lowest temperature so far on Friday, with the minimum temperature recorded at 0.9 degrees Celsius.
The temperature remained below the freezing point at many places in the State, a Met official said.
Kalpa, some 250 km from Shimla, saw a minimum temperature of minus 4.8 degrees Celsius.
The temperature was minus five degrees Celsius in Manali and 1.1 degrees Celsius in Dalhousie. Shimla and Dalhousie witnessed light rains, while Manali experienced snowfall on Thursday.
The weather would largely remain dry in the State till Sunday, the official said.