Parts of northern India reel under intense cold conditions

Several parts of northern India reeled under intense cold conditions on Wednesday, with Jammu and Kashmir’s resort town Pahalgam recording its minimum temperature at minus 11.7 degrees Celsius and Delhi logging its eighth cold wave day in January.

Among other parts of the region, Rajasthan’s Sikar, Churu and Karauli districts saw minimum temperatures drop below the freezing point and Fatehpur city recorded a low of minus 2.2 degrees Celsius.

In Punjab and Haryana, severe cold weather conditions continued unabated as minimum temperatures hovered below normal limits at most places in the region.

National capital Delhi logged its eighth cold wave day in January on Wednesday, the most in the month in at least 12 years, according to data available on the India Meteorological Department (IMD) website.

Sadarjung observatory, the city’s primary weather station, recorded a minimum temperature of 2.6 degrees Celsius.

Delhi saw seven cold wave days in January 2020, while it did not record any such day last year. The city recorded an intense cold wave spell from January 5 to 9 this year, the second-longest in the month in a decade, according to the IMD data.

The national capital has not recorded any rainfall this winter season so far.

Cold wave conditions intensified in Kashmir with the minimum temperature plunging further below

the freezing point across the Valley owing to clear skies, even as the meteorological department has forecast rains and snow from Thursday.

Srinagar recorded a low of minus 4.3 degrees Celsius, Qazigund, the gateway to the Valley, minus 7.4 degrees Celsius, south Kashmir’s

Kokernag minus 6.2 degrees Celsius, and Kupwara minus 6.2 degrees Celsius, the officials said.