Temperature dips below freezing point in Kashmir, North India shivers; Delhi warmer than normal

New Delhi: Mercury nosedived across north India with Gulburg in Kashmir recording a low of minus 9.2 degrees Celsius even as a warmer day prevailed in the national capital with the temperature hovering above normal for this time of the year.

In Kashmir, mercury dropped across the Valley as the minimum temperature settled several degrees below freezing point.

The minimum temperature at famous ski-resort of Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 9.2 degrees Celsius.

It was a warm and sunny day in Delhi as the maximum temperature was recorded at 24.4 degrees Celsius, four notches above normal, and the minimum at 8.7 degrees Celsius, two above the season's average, MeT department said.

Visibility was 1,000 meters at 5.30 AM and it increased to 1,500 meters at 8.30 AM and then to 2,000 meters by afternoon, the MeT department said.

The humidity levels oscillated between 95 and 53 per cent.

After remaining over the freezing point for six consecutive nights, the minimum temperature in the Jammu and Kashmir summer capital Srinagar dropped by 5.5 degrees to settle at minus 3.8 degrees Celsius, the local MeT department said.

The official said the mercury in Pahalgam, which serves as the base camp during annual Amarnath yatra, also increased by one degree to minus 6.3 degrees Celsius against previous night at minus 7.1 degrees Celsius.

Cold conditions prevailed in Punjab and Haryana with minimum temperatures hovering around normal level in most parts of both states.

Narnaul in Haryana was the coldest among the places in the two states where mercury recorded a low of 4.6 degrees Celsius.

Chandigarh, the joint capital of the states, registered low of 5.8 degree Celsius, one degree above normal, as per local MeT department report.