Severe cold day conditions continued in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi NCR on Monday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the cold day to severe cold day conditions over Northwest and Central India will continue during the next 24 hours and gradually abate thereafter.
Meanwhile, fresh snowfall in some parts of Kashmir led to a dip in the maximum temperatures but overnight cloud cover has resulted in higher than expected minimum temperatures across the valley.
The IMD said cold wave conditions over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan during the next two days. It may abate only after that. Fresh active Western Disturbance will affect Northwest India from Jan 21.
For Delhi, the cold day conditions continued for the fifth consecutive day on Monday. On Monday, the maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to settle around 17°C and 8°C, respectively. The respite is mainly due to the back-to-back western disturbances (WDs) forecast to affect the Western Himalayan Region from Tuesday onwards. As per IMD, a fresh WD is likely to affect Western Himalayan Region from January 18 onwards, followed by another one from Friday, January 21.
Dr RK Jenamani, senior IMD scientist, said, "The condition of fog has improved in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana today. There will be light rainfall in Delhi from Jan 21st night till Jan 23rd morning due to the western disturbances and gradually there will be an increase in the temperature.''
In the Valley, light to moderate snowfall was reported from many places in north Kashmir. Some parts of Srinagar witnessed sleet – a mixture of snow and rain -- very briefly.
The mercury in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, settled at a low of 1 degree Celsius – over two notches up from the previous night's minus 1.2 degrees Celsius. Gulmarg, the famous ski resort in Baramulla district of north Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 4.6 degrees Celsius – up 2.4 degrees from the previous night.
Pahalgam in south Kashmir Anantnag district, which serves as the base camp for the annual Amarnath yatra, recorded a low of minus 3.6 degrees Celsius – two degrees up from the previous night.The mercury in Kupwara in north Kashmir settled at a low of 0.5 degrees Celsius.
Cold conditions prevailed in parts of Rajasthan where Fatehpur recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 1.8 degrees Celsius on Sunday night. A slight increase in minimum temperature was recorded at most places in the state.