Rajasthan's Sikar freezes as mercury drops to -1.5 degrees Celsius

NEW DELHI: With the minimum temperature at minus 1.5 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, the mercury dropped below the freezing point for the fifth consecutive day in the Sikar district of Rajasthan.

The northern parts of India froze under the cold spell as Rajasthan's Sikar recorded a minimum temperature of -1.5 degrees Celsius while Churu recorded a minimum temperature of minus 1.2 degrees.

Narnaul in Haryana recorded a minimum temperature of 0.5 degrees while Hisar recorded a minimum temperature of 2.0 degrees, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

It has issued orange and yellow alerts in parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh as these areas are likely to witness severe coldwave.

In Punjab, Gurdaspur, Firozpur, Muktsar, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Bathinda are on orange alert while districts such as Fazilka, Barnala, Sangrur, Ludhiana and Fatehgarh Sahib are on yellow alert, the IMD said. An active Western disturbance is very likely to affect Northwest India from January 21 to 25.

Under its influence, rainfall/snowfall activity is likely to commence over Western Himalayan Region from the early hours of January 21 and would continue till January 25 with peak activity on the 23rd and 24th January, the weather office said.

Meanwhile, the national capital on Wednesday witnessed foggy conditions, with several flights and trains running late due to low visibility. Several flights scheduled to depart from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) were delayed due to fog, informed the airport authority.

While the Northern Railway said that six trains were running late due to the fog.