Sunshine greets North, night temp dips

Bright sunshine greeted North India on Thursday though chilly nights made a comeback with a dip in mercury in most parts of the region.

Delhiites experienced relatively pleasant weather with wisps of mist and slight veil of fog early in the morning giving way to a bright sun in the later part of the day.

Delhi had a cold night with the minimum temperature dropping to 9.4 degree Celsius, one degree above normal, down by six degrees from yesterday's 15.4.

Facing inclement weather for the past few days, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh were also greeted by bright sunshine though night temperature dropped in most of the places, bringing back chilly conditions.

In Punjab, while Amritsar was the coldest place recording 4.4 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal low, the minimum temperatures also dropped below normal at Ludhiana (7.8 deg C) and Patiala (7.9 deg C). Chandigarh also experienced a cold night at 7.3 deg C.

In Haryana, Hisar was the coldest place recording a low of 6.2 deg C, down two notches, the MeT said here.

Kashmir was also back in the grip of intense cold as night temperatures across the Valley dipped below the freezing point with Gulmarg being the coldest place in the state at minus 14.2 degrees Celsius.

The mercury in Gulmarg plunged by 1.2 degrees compared to previous night's low of minus 13 degrees Celsius, a MET office spokesman said.

In Srinagar, the mercury continued its downward spiral to settle at minus 2.2 degrees Celsius compared to yesterday's minus 1.3 degrees Celsius, the spokesman said, adding Pahalgam in south Kashmir witnessed a low of minus 8.4 degrees Celsius.

Though weather remained clear, there was no respite from cold in Himachal as minimum temperature dipped by few notches and hovered around freezing point at several places including Shimla.

... contd.

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