Cold Wave Grips Himachal & Kashmir, Water Sources Freeze; Rain Expected in Delhi

Cold Wave Grips Himachal & Kashmir: An intense cold wave gripped the lower hills of Himachal Pradesh as the local weather department issued an orange alert for severe cold in Bilaspur, Una, Hamirpur and Mandi districts for four days from Monday. The meteorological department also predicted light rain and snowfall at a few places in the mid and higher hills till Thursday.

In Himachal Pradesh, the cold wave has forced the weather department to issue an orange alert in Bilaspur, Una, Hamirpur, and Mandi districts. Tabo emerged as the coldest location in the state, with the mercury plunging to a frigid minus 11.6°C.

Other areas such as Sumdo, Kusumseri, and Kalpa recorded lows of minus 5.3°C, minus 4.8°C, and minus 1.8°C, respectively. Even Una, typically a warmer district, recorded a chilly 1°C, though it remained the state’s hottest spot with a maximum of 23.8°C.

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In Jammu and Kashmir, the extreme cold also led to the freezing of water supply lines and the forming of thin layers of ice on the surfaces of several water bodies, authorities said. Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of minus 4.6 degrees Celsius on Saturday night marking a rise of nearly four degrees from the previous night.

Pahalgam in South Kashmir, the base camp for the annual Amarnath Yatra, registered a low of minus 4.9 degrees Celsius. Gulmarg, a tourist resort town known for skiing activities in north Kashmir logged a minimum temperature of minus 4.6 degrees Celsius.

The IMD has warned that the combination of rain and an intensifying cold wave could make conditions harsher across Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir in the next five to seven days.

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Over the next few days, parts of Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana are expected to witness isolated showers. In Punjab, light rain and fog have been predicted in pockets of Chandigarh.

Meanwhile, the IMD has forecast light rain and dense fog for West Bengal’s Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas, East and West Medinipur districts and Jhargram.

Delhi woke up to light rain on Monday amid severe category Air Quality Index (AQI). The AQI in Delhi worsened from ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ over the weekend and the maximum temperature settled three notches above normal at 24.1 degrees Celsius on Sunday.

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