Cold claims two lives in north; 89 trains cancelled due to fog

New Delhi: Cold conditions intensified across north India on Wednesday claiming two lives in Rajasthan while a dense fog engulfing the region forced cancellation of 89 trains.
There was shallow fog and traces of rainfall witnessed in some areas of the national capital on Wednesday morning with the minimum temperature settling at 12 degrees Celsius.
While flight operations were normal, as many as nine Delhi-bound trains, including Guwahati Rajdhani Express, Vikramshila Express and Magadh Express, were reported to be running late and one rescheduled due to fog.
Eighty nine trains remained cancelled as announced earlier, a senior railway official said.
The maximum temperature settled at 23.2 degrees Celsius, three notches above the season’s average while the minimum temperature was recoded at 12 degrees Celsius, five notches above the normal, said a MeT department official.
The humidity in air oscillated between 95 and 59 per cent.
In Rajasthan, cold wave has claimed the lives of two people in Jaipur during last 24 hours, as the state continued to reel under cold conditions.
A 70-year-old man was found dead at New Gate in Chaura Rasta, while another 45-year-old was found lying dead in Bajri Mandi in Gopalpura area in Jaipur due to cold weather, police said.
Dabok in Udaipur recorded the lowest temperature of 7.8 degree Celsius followed by Sikar 8, Mount Abu 8.4, and Jaipur 10.6 degree Celsius last night, a MeT official said.
There was dense fog in Bikaner district, which cleared around 9 am. Elsewhere the minimum temperature varied between 11 and 15.1 degree Celsius including at Jodhpur, Pilani, Ajmer, Sawaimadhopur, Jaisalmer, Barmer, and Churu.
Many parts of Indian-administered-Kashmir, including Srinagar were engulfed in a thick layer of fog on Wednesday morning affecting visibility even as the minimum temperature went down at most places in the Valley.
Leh at minus 13.2 degrees Celsius was the coldest. Motorists negotiated the roads with caution in the poor light.
However, there was no fog around the airport, "flight operations went on normally," said an official at Srinagar International Airport.
The mercury in Srinagar dropped by nearly two degrees from a low of minus 0.8 degrees Celsius the previous night to settle at a low of minus 2.5 degrees, said a Meteorological Department spokesman.
There was a dip by nearly three notches in the minimum at the famous tourist resort of Pahalgam, which serves as the base camp during the annual Amarnath Yatra, he added.
The mercury settled at minus 4.9 degrees at Pahalgam.
According to the MeT office, in the plains across the two states, Narnaul in Haryana was the coldest place with a low of 6.4 degrees Celsius.
While the mercury in Punjab's Ludhiana settled at a low of 6.9 degrees, the minimum at Karnal in Haryana was 7 degrees.
Among other places, Chandigarh, recorded a low of 7.1 degrees, two notches above normal, followed by Amritsar in Punjab at 7.2 degrees, three notches above normal.
Further, in Haryana, while Ambala recorded a minimum of 8.5 degrees, two notches above normal, the mercury settled at 9.4 degrees in Hisar, which was two notches above the normal.
Patiala in Punjab settled at a low of 8.4 degrees, one notch above normal.