Srinagar/Pune, Jan 18 (UNI) Parts of Himachal Pradesh received fresh spell of snowfall and rains on Saturday. Drass of Ladakh Union Territory, the second coldest place in the world after Siberia, recorded minus 24.1 degree Celsius, and Leh minus 13 degree C.
Met department forecast cold day conditions across the Hindi belt. A low of 3.6 degrees Celsius was recorded at Amritsar, Punjab.
It forecast dense to very dense fog in some parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, east and west Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, north Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha.
Rain or thundershowers occurred at few places in Bihar, Lakshadweep, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema and Tamil Nadu.
A thick blanket of fog engulfed the national capital early this morning affecting rail and flight operations as visibility dropped below 100 m.
Air quality index of Delhi at 0900 hrs today was recorded at 240 in the 'poor' category , as per data of Central Pollution Control Board. An AQI between 0-50 is considered "good", 51-100 "satisfactory", 101-200 "moderate", 201-300 "poor", 301-400 "very poor" and 401-500 "severe".
The Capital is likely to witness moderate to-dense fog for the next 48 hours, India Meteorological Department said, attributing it to incessant rains and hailstorm across the plains.
At least 20 Delhi-bound trains were delayed due to fog in several parts of North India.
At 0830 hours on Saturday, Agra and Gwalior had zero visibility.The cities of Amritsar, Ganganagar, Churu, Delhi (Ridge), Kota, Tikamgarh, Lucknow and Gorakhpur recorded 25 meter visibility while 50 meter visibility was recorded at Tehri, Hissar, Bhiwani, Delhi (Safdarjung, Palam and Ayanagar), Guna, Bhopal, Fursatganj,Varanasi, Sidhi and Khajuraho.
According to the weatherman, there could be isolated rain or snow in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh during the next 24 hours.
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