Cold wave continues to grip North India, disrupts air and rail traffic

Severe cold wave conditions engulfed entire North India on Saturday affecting the air traffic and rail movement at several places. 

As the national capital woke up to intense fog, more than 11 Delhi-bound trains including Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express and Malda-Delhi Farakka Express were delayed. Flight operations were also affected in the city.

Intermittent snowfall, which continued for the second day in a row, disrupted flight operations at Srinagar airport.  “The air traffic to and fro Srinagar airport has been hit because of the low visibility due to continuous snowfall," an official at the airport said. 

The minimum temperature at Srinagar was recorded at minus (-) 0.8 degrees Celsius on Friday night while Kupwara in north Kashmir registered a low of 0.2 degree Celsius. Gulmarg also recorded a low of minus 6.0 degrees Celsius last night, while Pahalgam tourist resort registered a low of minus 4.5 degrees Celsius.

At minus 16.8 degrees Celsius, Kargil was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir. Leh recorded a low of minus 11.9 degrees Celsius last night, while Drass settled at minus 10.3 degrees Celsius 

Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh also reeled under cold wave conditions. Punjab's Adampur was the coldest place in the region at a low of 3.9 degrees Celsius while Chandigarh recorded a low of 7.4 degrees Celsius.

Among other places in Punjab, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala braved cold weather conditions at 6, 7.1 and 8.4 degrees Celsius respectively, up to three degrees above normal. Pathankot, Halwara and Bathinda recorded their respective minimums at 5.9, 6.4 and 6 degrees Celsius.

In Haryana, Ambala, Hisar and Karnal experienced cold weather conditions at 7.2, 7.5 and 5.6 degrees Celsius respectively. Rohtak, Narnaul and Bhiwani recorded their minimums at 7.6, 5.3 and 8.7 degrees Celsius.

With agency inputs