North India in grip of severe cold wave

SIROHI (Rajasthan): Several places in Northern India woke up to severe cold and dense fog as the temperature dropped on Monday morning. Amid a cold wave prevailing in parts of northern India, Palam in Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 6.5°C while Safdarjung recorded a minimum temperature of 5°C, said India Meteorological Department on Monday.

Dense fog engulfed parts of Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad lowering visibility in many areas.

As per IMD, "Moradabad will witness a minimum temperature of 7°C and a maximum temperature of 18°C while dense fog will continue to persist today." Fog and cold wave conditions prevailed in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad on Monday. IMD predicted fog conditions to continue for the whole week.

Haridwar in UP witnessed dense fog as the minimum temperature remained below 10 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, in Punjab's Amritsar, fog and cold wave conditions prevailed as the minimum temperature was recorded at 6.5 degrees Celcius today. In Haryana, thick fog shrouded the city of Ambala.

"Today, cold wave to severe cold wave conditions prevailed at isolated pockets over Rajasthan and cold wave conditions prevailed at isolated pockets over Haryana and Delhi," IMD tweeted. In Rajasthan's Mount Abu, the dip in temperature caused snowing. People in Mount Abu woke up to snow-covered grounds.

The snow froze on the windows of the vehicles. Meanwhile, the lowest minimum temperature of 0.0 deg C was reported over Rajasthan's Churu in the plains of North India.

"Severe cold reported at most places over Punjab; Cold day at most locations with isolated severe cold day reported over Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi; cold day to severe cold day at isolated places over northwest Rajasthan and west Uttar Pradesh," IMD added.