North India shivers as winter chill continues

New Delhi -  A severe cold wave continued in north India Tuesday, with Delhi shivering at 4.1 degrees Celsius, and the Dal Lake freezing in Srinagar. Fog played havoc with train schedules, with many being cancelled.

The capital's maximum temperature settled at 22.3 degrees Celsius -- two notches above average for this time of the season.

Dense fog enveloped the city in the morning and visibility fell to 150 metres at 8.30 a.m.

The fog forced the cancellation of 30 trains, while 13 were running late, leading to rescheduling, a Northern Railway official said.

However, no flight was cancelled or delayed at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport due to foggy conditions in the capital, the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said in a statement.

One flight was cancelled due to bad weather conditions at the destination airport.

In Uttar Pradesh, a total of 91 people have died so far due to biting cold, officials said.

The lowest temperature in the state was at Agra, which saw mercury plummet to 0.9 degree, a notch below the season's average.

Capital Lucknow recorded 4.9 degrees, while Kanpur shivered at 1.9 degrees.

Day temperatures hovered around 20-24 degrees, with people enjoying the afternoon sunshine.

Cold wave conditions continued unabated across the Kashmir Valley.

The minimum temperature in Srinagar Tuesday was minus 4.7 degrees Celsius. It was minus 7.6 degrees in south Kashmir's Pahalgam hill station and minus 8.4 degrees in north Kashmir's Gulmarg ski resort.

Most of the lakes and water bodies in the valley, including the famous Dal Lake, were frozen at the margins Tuesday morning.

Ladakh's capital Leh was again the coldest in Jammu and Kashmir with the minimum temperature at a bone chilling minus 14.4 degrees. Kargil town in Ladakh recorded a minimum of minus 12.8 degrees.

In Punjab, the industrial city of Ludhiana recorded a low of 0.8 degree Celsius, six degrees below average. Patiala saw the mercury plummet to 3 degrees, four notches below average.

Amritsar too recorded a minimum temperature of minus 1.6 degrees Celsius, five degrees below average.

Chandigarh was slightly warmer with a low of 5.2 degrees.

In Haryana, Hisar town reeled at 0.7 degree Tuesday morning, five degrees below average.

Severe cold conditions continued to prevail in the hills of Himachal Pradesh despite dry weather, the weather bureau said.

The minimum temperature at many places hovered around the freezing point.

The state capital Shimla recorded a low of 3.6 degrees Celsius, while Manali recorded a low of minus 1.6 degrees.

Dharamsala recorded a low of 4.5 degrees, while Keylong and Kalpa in Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur districts settled for minus 6.2 degrees and minus 2.6 degrees, respectively.

"Dry air continues to prevail over the state. A feeble western disturbance lies over north Pakistan and the neighbourhood as an upper air system," the Met office in Shimla said.