New Delhi: Plains of North India shivered today as surrounding hilly areas continued to receive snowfall while fog also returned affecting rail and road traffic.
Kashmir Valley, Himachal Pradesh and parts of Uttarakhand have been receiving snowfall for the last seven days.
Delhiites woke up to a chilly morning with dense fog reducing the visibility to 50 meters and delaying around 20 trains.
The minimum temperature in the morning was at 11.3 degrees Celsius, two notches below as against yesterday's when it had settled at 13.6 degrees. The maximum settled at 23.1 degrees.
According to a Northern Railway official, around 20 north-bound trains were running behind their schedule due to dense fog in morning hours.
After a brief respite from foggy conditions, thick fog today engulfed most parts of Punjab and Haryana today affecting schedule of flights and trains.
Hisar settled at a low of 8.2 degrees, Narnaul 6 degrees and Amritsar 4.4 degrees. Ambala had a low of 10.3 degrees followed by 10 degrees at Chandigarh.
Rajasthan also witnessed similar conditions.
Mount Abu was the coldest place in the state with the minimum temperature settling at 4 degrees last night, a MeT report said today.
Churu on plains recorded the lowest temperature of 5.7 degrees, which was 6 notches lower than the previous night.
Night temperatures dipped at almost all places in the state from 1 to 7 degrees due to fresh cold winds in the last 24 hours, the weatherman said.
After three days of intermittent snowfall, rains lashed Kashmir Valley today as the minimum temperatures went down at all places except the summer capital Srinagar.
Pahalgam hill resort in south Kashmir, which serves as the base camp during the annual Amarnath yatra, received the highest rainfall of 27.6 mm and the mercury settled at a low of minus 10.6 degrees a drop of nearly 10 degrees from the previous night, a Met spokesman said.
Kargil in Ladakh region continued to be the coldest recorded place in J-K as the night temperature there settled at a low of minus 15.6 degrees Celsius down by two degrees from the previous night's minus 13.5 degrees Celsius, the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Srinagar-Jammu national highway, which was closed for traffic yesterday due to heavy snowfall, was thrown open today.
“The highway was opened for one-way traffic and the vehicles were allowed to ply from Srinagar to Jammu,” a Traffic Control Room spokesman said.
