Cold Wave Sweeps North India, Srinagar at -6.3 Degree

New Delhi: The entire northern part of India is engulfed under cold wave conditions. Minimum temperatures are very likely to be below normal over most parts of the country till January 21.

The national capital continues to be in the grip of a cold wave as on Saturday it recorded the lowest temperature of the season with the mercury dipping to 3.2 degrees Celsius, four notches below the season's average, a weather official said.

"Although the sky will remain mostly clear in the morning, the afternoon may turn cloudy," said an official from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The maximum temperature of the day was likely to hover around 20 degrees Celsius.

Humidity at 8.30 a.m. was 97 per cent with visibility recorded upto 300 metres.

Himachal Pradesh continued to reel under cold conditions with Manali recording minus 6.8 degrees Celsius, a day after the state saw a long sunny day.

The state might experience more widespread rain and snowfall in the next two days from Sunday, a weather official said here.

"There are chances of heavy snowfall at isolated places in mid and high hills from January 15 to 16," meteorological office director Manmohan Singh told IANS.

Most of the prominent tourist towns like Shimla, Narkanda, Kufri, Kalpa, Dalhousie and Manali are likely to have light to moderate spells of snowfall, he said.

The night temperature in Keylong, the headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti district, was minus 13.9 degrees Celsius, the coldest in the state.

Kalpa in Kinnaur district saw a low of minus six degrees, while the temperature was 0.5 degree in the state capital and 7.4 degrees in Dharamsala.

Nine deaths were reported from some parts of Uttar Pradesh since Friday as cold wave conditions intensified, an official said.

The weatherman has predicted harsher weather in the next few days as the 'winter chill effect' was going to bring down temperatures even further.

The Met office said that the mercury would dip steadily till January 19 after which the weather conditions might improve.

All schools from class I to VIII were shut till January 16.

Kanpur and Sultanpur districts shivered at 1.6 degrees Celsius.

In Jammu and Kashmir the minimum temperature dipped further to minus 6.8 degrees Celsius, recording the season's coldest night so far.

According to the weather office, another spell of rain and snowfall is likely to occur on January 15 and 16. "The sky will remain cloudy during the next 12 hours as we are expecting another spell of rain and snowfall," a Met official said. All water bodies in the valley are either completely or partially frozen these days.

A total of 25 trains would arrive late in Delhi, six were rescheduled, and eight were cancelled.

(With IANS inputs)