Fresh snowfall in Himachal; spell of chill likely in north, central India

New Delhi: Cold weather conditions continued as Kufri, Bharmour, Keylong and Kalpa in Himachal Pradesh received fresh snowfall on Sunday, with the IMD predicting a fresh spell of chill in parts of north and central India in the coming days.

Meanwhile, a 45-year-old farmer died allegedly due to cold in Uttar Pradesh while irrigating his field, police said on Sunday.

With the movement of the western disturbance further northeastwards from Jammu and Kashmir, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said dry northwesterly winds are likely to pick up from afternoon of January 25 and persist during the subsequent 3-4 days over plains of north and adjoining parts of central and western India.

Under its influence, the current spell of dense to very dense fog in some pockets over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, north Rajasthan is likely to persist over these areas till January 26 and decrease thereafter, it said.

There was fresh snowfall in Kufri, Bharmour, Keylong and Kalpa of Himachal Pradesh, while some other parts of the state saw light to moderate rainfall, the meteorological department said.

Keylong received 15 cm snowfall in a 24-hour period, followed by Kalpa with 4.6 cm and Kufri with 2 cm, Shimla MeT centre director Manmohan Singh said.

Apart from that, Kangra witnessed 25.4 mm rainfall, Chamba 20 mm, Palampur 17 mm, Dharamshala 14.8 mm, Manali 10 mm, Una 3.2 mm and Shimla 1.7 mm, he said.

Lahaul and Spiti's administrative centre Keylong was recorded the coldest place in the state at minus 9.2 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature at most places in Kashmir decreased on Sunday after snowfall, but the clouds made way for the winter sun in the morning, officials said.

The night temperature in the Kashmir valley, except in Srinagar and Qazigund, went down on Saturday night, they said. Srinagar city recorded a low of minus 1.9 degrees Celsius, slightly up from minus 2 degrees Celsius the previous night. Qazigund, the gateway town to the valley, recorded a minimum of 3 degrees Celsius, a degree up from the previous night, they said.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh is likely to witness a further dip in minimum temperature in the next three days due to winds blowing from northern areas, IMD officials said.

Cold conditions and dry weather prevailed in Uttar Pradesh with dense fog in some parts of the state in the last 24 hours, the meteorological department said.