The cold wave has further intensified in several parts of the country. In Uttar Pradesh, it has claimed 18 lives during the past 24 hours. Agra remained the coldest place during the past twenty four hours with the minimum temperature plummeting to 2.6 degree Celsius.
The maximum temperature remained below normal by 8 to 10 degrees Celsius in many parts of the state. Vacations in Schools and colleges have been extended due to the extreme cold.
All the three regions of Jammu and Kashmir are in the grip of a severe coldwave with both day and night temperatures dipping by several notches.
Higher reaches in the state are experiencing snowfall since last evening. Intense cold wave swept most parts of Punjab and Haryana with icy winds and foggy weather disrupting normal life in the two states.
In Madhya Pradesh, three people including two women died due to the cold in Chambal region during the past two days. All government and private schools upto primary level have been closed till 31st of this month in Bhind district.
In Bihar, day temperature declined by five degree celsius at several places with chilly winds from the Himalayas sweeping the plains. The Met department has predicted further decline in day temperature in the state.
In Delhi, the maximum temperature was 16.6 degree celsius, four notches below normal yesterday.
Dense fog continues to disrupt Delhi-bound trains as more than 56 trains are running late by several hours. The Railways has cancelled 8 trains due to fog. Schedule of premier trains like Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duranto have also been badly affected due to foggy conditions in the northern region.
Meanwhile, flight operations remained unaffected at the Indira Gandhi International airport in the National Capital for the third consecutive day today even as the airport experienced fog last night and this morning.Fog started to descend on the airport from 10 PM last night and runway visibility at the third runway reduced to 700 metres but on the main runway it was 1,200 metres.
Airport sources said visibility dipped on the runway between 2 AM and 5 AM, but as it was way above the required minimum of 125 metres and 150 metres for small and large aircraft, there was no disruption. Arriving flights had to use various categories of instrument landing systems to land they added.
