Kashmir shivers under cold wave

New Delhi: Mercury dipped further in most parts of North India and a blanket of fog restricted visibility to a few metres in the entire region on Friday, hitting road and rail traffic.

It was close to freezing point in most parts of Himachal Pradesh, while capital Shimla recorded a low of 0.9 degree Celsius.

The tourist resort of Manali recorded a minimum temperature of minus 5 degree Celsius while the temperature slided to minus 1.5 degrees in Una in Shivalik foot hills, six degrees below normal.

The high altitude tribal areas had another spell of moderate snowfall while Theog, Fagu and Kufri had mild snowfall,



causing further drop in mercury.

Water pipes froze and burst at many places and thick ground frost occurred in mid and higher hills while dense fog engulfed the lower hills disrupting vehicular traffic during morning hours.

The mercury dropped to 6.4 degree Celsius in Delhi accompanied by fog. The minimum temperature, that was recorded at 8:30 am, was two notches below the season’s average, a weather official said.

In Kashmir Valley, residents braced up for Chillai-Kalan, the 40-day period of the harshest winter in the region as the mercury dipped by several degrees at places in this part of Jammu and Kashmir.