Parts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi received rain during the early hours of Saturday as North India continued to battle bone-chilling temperatures. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday that light to moderate rains along with thunderstorms will occur in the northern region during the next few hours.
“Thunderstorm with rain would occur over and adjoining areas of Rewari, Bhiwadi, Manesar, Gurugram, Farukhnagar, Sonipat, Gannaur, Deeg, Mathura, Hathras, Bharatpur, Hansi, Tosham, Jind, Safodon, Panipat, Karnal, Shamli, Kaithal, Narwana, Narnaul and Isolated places of South, South- West Delhi during next 2 hours,” the weather bureau said on its Twitter handle.
IMD pointed out that dense to very dense fog was observed in isolated pockets over Punjab, Haryana and West Uttar Pradesh and dense fog was seen in isolated pockets over northwest Rajasthan, northwest Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. “Visibility recorded (during 1730 hrs IST of yesterday to 0530 hrs IST of today) (200 metre or less): Amritsar, Bareilly, Patiala and Ambala-25 each; Gaya and Karnal-50 each; Ganganagar, Hissar, Aligarh and Gwalior-200 each,” it added.
The national capital of Delhi, which recorded the season’s lowest temperature of 1.1°C on New Year, also saw very dense fog in Palam with zero visibility till 7am on Saturday after which it improved to approximately 150 metres.
Several areas situated in the northwestern plains recorded sub-zero or near 0°C minimum temperatures on the New Year’s Day on Friday. Haryana’s Hisar on Friday recorded a minimum temperature of 1.2 degrees Celsius – the coldest in 47 years. Other cities in the state such as Narnaul (0.2°C) Sirsa (2°C) and Rohtak (2°C) also saw a drop in their minimum temperature. In Punjab, Faridkot recorded a minimum temperature of 0.2 degrees Celsius, Bathinda 1.2 degrees and Amritsar 2.2 degrees on Friday.
Delhi’s Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative data for the Capital, stated that Friday’s minimum temperature has been the lowest in the last 15 years. On January 8, 2006, Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 0.2 degree Celsius and the lowest temperature of minus 0.6 degrees Celsius was recorded in January 1935.
