Cold grips North, 4 killed in UP mishap

Mercury on Wednesday dropped across northern India as Leh in J&K shivered at -16.4 degrees Celsius and national Capital recording the coldest day of the season, even as four persons were killed in a fog-related accident in UP.

Moderate to dense fog disrupted rail services, leading to the cancellation of 66 trains. Sixteen others were running late. Flight operations, however, remained normal in Delhi.

In UP, four persons were killed when their car fell into a canal in Auraiya district on Tuesday night as dense fog marred visibility even as light to moderate rain and thunder-shower occurred at some places in the state in the last 24 hours. Night temperature rose in Faizabad and Lucknow, fell in Meerut and changed little in the remaining divisions over the state with Nazibabad recording the lowest at 04.2 C.

With northerly icy winds sweeping across Rajasthan, mercury dipped further by 1-3 degrees Celsius at most places, an MeT official said. Jaipur recorded the lowest temperature of 4.6 degrees Celsius on Tuesday night.

Parts of Punjab and Haryana were also reeling under intense cold conditions.

Jammu and Kashmir continued to remain in the grip of intense cold as night temperature, which was already below freezing point, dipped further with Leh recording the lowest temperature of the season at minus 16.4 degrees Celsius, down by five notches.