The cold wave continues to sweep North India.

Delhiites today woke up to the chilliest morning of the season so far with mercury settling at a low of 3.3 degree celsius. Today's minimum was five degrees below normal and down from Friday’s six degree celsius.

Friday recorded the lowest maximum temperature for the season at 19.9 degree celsius. The weatherman has predicted a further fall in mercury on Christmas morning to two degree Celsius.

The coldest day of the season so far was December 16, when minimum dropped to 4.7 degree celsius and maximum to 21.7 degrees.

In the past decade, the lowest minimum for the month was recorded on December 12, 2005, when the mercury recorded 3.3 degrees Celsius. The record for the lowest minimum for the month of December is 1.1 degree Celsius recorded on the 26th of the month in 1945.

In Uttarakhand, two persons lost their lives on account of the prevailing cold weather conditions in the Kumaon region. The deaths took place in the Dineshpur and Berinag areas of the region. Kumaon has been experiencing severe cold weather since the past fortnight.

In the Terai areas, there is a thick fog engulfing the plain areas. This fog has been resulting in several accidents and hampering the smooth and timely flow of road and rail traffic. A minimum of 2.6 degree celsius temperature was recorded in Dehradun on Friday night.

In Rajasthan, Mercury today plummeted further in northern parts with Churu, in the plains, recording the lowest temperature of the season at minus one degree Celsius, five points below normal.

Mount Abu, the only hill station of the state, also recorded 1 deg C. People in Pilani and Sriganganagar shivered at near- freezing point at 1.2 and 1.4 deg C respectively.

In Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, there has been not much respite from cold wave conditions and fog.

However, in Bihar people heaved a shy of relief from biting cold following bright sunshine today. Shallow fog at many places in the state caused late running of several trains. AIR traffic is normal as the weather is clear in Patna. The Met department has predicted improvement of weather condition in the coming days.

AIR Patna correspondent reports that the State Government had released about Rs. 23 lakhs for arranging bonfire at different places throughout the state.

The divisional headquarters have been given Rs. 1 lakh each and the districts given Rs. 50,000 each for the purpose.