Cold Wave Likely To Intensify In North India Over The Next Few Days, Rains To Add Bite To The Chill

Lucknow/New Delhi, January 3 (TNA) The cold wave sweeping many parts of Northern India is likely to further intensify in the coming days, the weatherman has predicted. Dense fog, poor visibility and further drop in mercury are likely to disrupt normal life in many states from January 5.

IMD Director General Dr. Mrityunjay Mahapatra has said that the night temperature is expected to fall further between January 5 and 11. Due to its effect, the cold wave situation in Central India may become serious. Cold day conditions may arise due to low day temperature in Madhya Pradesh, northern part of Maharashtra and most parts of Uttar Pradesh.

It is extremely cold from Jammu and Kashmir to Bihar and Punjab, from Haryana to eastern Uttar Pradesh. The mercury dropped to minus 7.5 degrees Celsius in Himachal's Kukumseri while it was minus 6.2 degrees in Pahalgam. Due to snowfall in the mountains, cold wave continued throughout the day on Tuesday in the national capital and surrounding areas. Despite the sun shining during the day, people remained shivering

The minimum temperature in Delhi dropped to 8.3 degrees Celsius, one degree above normal but two degrees less than the day before. Fog in North India is adversely affecting traffic, especially rail operations, with most trains running late by hours.

All water sources including Dal Lake have frozen in Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir valley is in the grip of severe cold due to heavy snowfall on the high peaks of the mountains. Due to fog in Jammu and Kashmir, rail and air services are continuously being affected. Even on Tuesday, many trains and flights reaching Jammu arrived late. According to Meteorological Center Srinagar, there may be rain and snowfall in some parts of the state on January 4 and 5. The weather patterns will remain changed on January 8 also.

According to IMD, during January to March, there is a possibility of rainfall in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Western Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab and Himachal and severe cold in January.

Monthly rainfall is expected to be above normal in East Uttar Pradesh, West Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Uttarakhand during January. There is a possibility of rainfall of 122 per cent of the long period average (LPA). Cold wave days are likely to be below normal in most parts of central India during January.