Northern parts of the country are in grip of a cold wave. The national capital today recorded its coldest December temperature in the past 12 years with mercury dipping to 3.7 degrees Celsius. A moderate cover of fog surrounded the city dropping visibility. According to the Met department, the second lowest minimum temperature of 3.9 degrees Celsius for the month was recorded on 29th of December, 2007. Today's minimum temperature was four notches below the season's average.<br />''<br />''In Uttar Pradesh, Muzaffarnagar remained the coldest district recording zero degrees Celsius. Met Office said, this is the lowest temperature during the last twenty years in December month in the district. Several trains are running late due to fog.<br />''<br />'' In Uttarakhand, severe cold is being experienced in hilly regions of the State. According to MET department, very light to light rain and snow fall are likely to occur at isolated places in higher reaches of  Chamoli and Pithoragarh districts in coming 24 hours .  Meanwhile light snowfall was received at higher reaches of Chamoli, Uttarkashi, and Rudraprayag district today.<br />''<br />''However, there was slight respite from intense cold conditions in Kashmir as the minimum temperature rose across the valley and Ladakh region last night, even as the mercury continued to remain several degrees below the freezing point.<br />''<br />''Srinagar recorded a low of minus 4.4 degrees Celsius while Kupwara in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 5.6 degrees Celsius last night. The night temperature in Pahalgam,settled at a low of minus 6.7 degrees Celsius on Saturday night. The ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded the minimum temperature of minus 5.5 degrees Celsius. Leh recorded a low of minus 14.3 degrees Celsius last night – up from minus 15.8 degrees Celsius the previous night.<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">In Odisha, biting cold tightened its grip today with the temperature sliding below 10 degrees Celsius in at least 10 places. Keonjhar became the coldest place in the state recording a minimum temperature of 7.1 degrees Celsius, while the mercury dipped to 7.5 degrees Celsius at the tourist destination of Daringbadi in Kandhamal district.</span>