Cold wave coupled with fog on Wednesday hit normal life in most parts of Northern plains and possibly claimed its first victim in Jaipur, even as hilly areas of Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir were under the grip of biting chill.
Several trains of North-Western Railways were running late by several hours due to the ongoing fog in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi, a railways spokesman said.
Aviation regulator DGCA has also directed all schedule domestic airlines to operate only with CAT-III complaint aircraft along with trained crew during fog hours.
It was a chilly day in the national capital on Wednesday with the minimum temperature settling at 8 degrees Celsius, a notch below the season’s average.
The maximum temperature was recorded at 22.2 degrees Celsius, a notch below the normal, a Meteorological department official said.
Visibility was recorded at 1,500 meters at 5.30 am which improved to 2,000 meters at 8.30 am, he said.
Cold wave intensified in Kashmir Valley with Leh town in Ladakh region being the coldest place in Jammu and Kashmir as the mercury fell there to minus 14 degrees.
He said the nearby Kargil town recorded a low of minus 11.4 degrees.
Srinagar recorded a low of minus 0.3 degrees. Cold weather conditions prevailed today in Haryana and Punjab with temperatures hovering below normal levels at most places.
In Punjab, Amritsar was the coldest place with a minimum temperature of 2.5 degrees.
The minimum temperature at Chandigarh settled at 7.4 deg C. However, the residents of the Union Territory woke up to a sunny morning today.
Severe cold wave sweeping across Rajasthan claimed the life of a middle-aged beggar in Jaipur’s Ramganj area.
He was found unconscious by passersby in the early morning in the open. Jaipur experienced the coldest night of the season with 5.3 degrees, about 6 degree less than normal. While Churu recorded the lowest temperature of 2.4 degree C.
Meanwhile, due to fog in neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh seven passengers’ train of North-Western Railway were running late in Rajasthan, railways CPRO Tarun Jain said.