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North India reels under severe cold wave

PHOTO: PTI

Man’s best friend: A familiar scene across North India on Wednesday.

SRINAGAR: North India continued to reel under a severe cold wave on Wednesday with cold related deaths mounting in the hills as well as in the plains. Kashmir Valley continued to reel under intense cold wave as night temperature remained more than seven degrees below freezing point, resulting in a thick layer of ice over the Dal lake.

The night temperature recorded in Srinagar city was minus 7.4 degrees Celsius, which was the coldest night of the season so far, an official of the meteorological department said. The sharp dip in minimum temperature has resulted in freezing of the Dal lake. There were also reports of frozen taps and water bodies from several parts of the valley including the Capital. Minimum temperatures further tumbled across Punjab and Haryana on Wednesday, making it the worst spell of cold the two States have faced in over a decade.

It was freezing cold at most places as minimum temperatures dropped well below the sub-zero mark.

However, the Meteorological Department here held out some hope for the people, saying a western disturbance was approaching the region and temperatures could climb by Friday.

Adampur was the coldest in Punjab, recording a low of minus 2.6 degrees Celsius, seven degrees below normal range.

Amritsar, where two unidentified persons died due to cold yesterday, continued to brave extreme chill at minus 1 degrees Celsius.

Ambala saw the mercury drop eight degrees to settle at minus 0.5 Celcius. Rohtak was reeling at a low of 1.9 Celcius while Hisar registered a low of 4.5 Celcius.

Shimla recorded a low of 3.1 Celcius.

Severe cold wave gripping Uttar Pradesh claimed eight more lives and pushed the death count to 38 this season even though the mercury showed a slight upward trend on Wednesday. - PTI

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