The cold wave tightened its grip in Chandigarh and neighboring States of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh with mercury plunging upto six notches below normal on Tuesday.
Punjab’s holy city Amritsar-was the coldest in the region, recording minimum temperature at 6 degree Celsius, down by two notches from normal. Narnaul in Haryana braved the chill at the minimum temperature of 6.3 degrees Celsius, six notches below normal.
The plains continued to be relatively colder than north India’s hill stations like Shimla and Dharamsala. In the hilly state of Himachal, the minimum temperature settled at 8.5 degrees Celsius in Shimla and 9.2 degrees Celsius in Dharamsala.
Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana recorded a minimum temperature at 9.8 degrees Celsius, down by one degree from normal and maximum temperature at 27.6 degrees Celsius.
Among other places, Ambala recorded minimum temperature at 9 degrees Celsius, Bhiwani 9 degrees Celsius, Karnal 7 degrees Celsius and Hisar 8.1 degrees. In Punjab, ludhiana witnessed a low of 6.8 degrees while Patiala settled at 9.2 degrees.
The maximum temperature recorded in Amritsar was 26.7 degrees Celsius, ludhiana recorded 27.1 degrees, Patiala 28.2 degrees Celsius, Ambala 25.8 degrees, Hisar 28 degrees, Bhiwani 27.6 degrees Celsius and Narnaul saw a maximum temperature at 25 degrees Celsius, three degrees below normal.
In neighbouring Himachal, Manali shivered at minimum temperature of 1 degree Celsius, Kalpa saw a low of 2 degrees Celsius, Bhuntar 3 degrees, Nahan 7.7 degrees, Sunder Nagar 3.2 degrees, Solan 3.8 degrees Celsius, Una 3.5 degrees Celsius and Una at 3.5 degrees Celsius.
According to the MeT Department forecast, days would be mainly sunny and mist/shallow fog may occur during morning in Haryana and Punjab in next 48 hours.
A MeT official said, “The night temperature has dropped in parts of the region in last 48 hours. The temperature levels have plunged by one to two degrees in many parts of Punjab and Haryana.”