A biting cold continued to grip large parts of north India on Monday, even as a marginal rise in temperatures offered limited relief in some regions.
From the Kashmir Valley to Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, cold wave conditions remained widespread, while Delhi battled severe air pollution under a dense blanket of smog.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the Valley is in the middle of Chilla-i-Kalan, the 40-day harshest phase of winter. Minimum temperatures rose slightly across several areas, though conditions stayed severe.
Srinagar recorded a low of minus 1.2 degrees Celsius on Sunday night, up from minus 4.7 degrees Celsius the previous night.
Sonamarg, the tourist resort in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, was the coldest place in the Valley at minus 8.3 degrees Celsius.
In south Kashmir, Shopian and Pulwama recorded minimum temperatures of minus 4.7 degrees and minus 5.1 degrees Celsius respectively. Pahalgam, a key base camp for the annual Amarnath yatra, saw the mercury dip to minus 1.8 degrees Celsius.
Gulmarg, the ski destination in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, recorded a low of minus 3.5 degrees, while Qazigund, the Valley’s gateway town, settled at minus 2.4 degrees Celsius.
Cold wave conditions were also reported across Punjab and Haryana. Amritsar was the coldest place in Punjab, recording a minimum temperature of 2.9 degrees Celsius, one degree below normal.
Faridkot recorded 3.4 degrees, Ludhiana 4.6 degrees, Pathankot 4.7 degrees, Ferozepur 5.7 degrees, Hoshiarpur 5.9 degrees, Patiala 6.5 degrees and Gurdaspur 6.8 degrees Celsius.
In Haryana, Bhiwani recorded the lowest temperature at 3 degrees Celsius. Gurugram saw a low of 5.5 degrees, Narnaul 6 degrees, Karnal 6.4 degrees and Ambala 7.8 degrees.
Chandigarh, the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana, recorded a minimum temperature of 6 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal.
Himachal Pradesh continued to reel under intense cold, with the meteorological centre in Shimla warning that cold wave conditions are likely to persist.
A yellow alert has been issued for severe cold in isolated areas of Kangra, Mandi, Una, Bilaspur and Hamirpur districts for Tuesday.
While the weather is expected to remain dry till Wednesday, the state may witness a fresh spell of snowfall and rain from Thursday to Saturday due to another western disturbance affecting northwest India from midweek.
Yellow alerts have also been issued for several districts on Thursday and Friday, warning of heavy snowfall and rain in isolated places.
“The weather was mostly dry across the state during the past 24 hours with cold wave conditions observed in Hamirpur, Kangra and Mandi. The lowest temperature in the state was minus 7.1 degrees Celcius, recorded in Tabo village in Lahaul and Spiti district,” a Met official said.
Rajasthan, meanwhile, has begun to see a gradual rise in temperatures. Most cities in the state recorded minimum temperatures above 10 degrees Celsius. Jaipur recorded a minimum of 13.7 degrees Celsius on Monday morning.
Among places where the mercury dipped below 10 degrees, Alwar recorded 7.2 degrees, Sirohi 8.1 degrees, Unkaransar and Sriganganagar 8.3 degrees each, Anta 9 degrees, Bikaner 9.2 degrees and Banasthali 9.3 degrees. Nagaur was the coldest in the state at 7 degrees Celsius.
In the national capital, the cold was accompanied by a severe air pollution episode.
Delhi remained covered in smog on Monday morning, with the average Air Quality Index recorded at 417, placing it in the ‘severe’ category, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s Sameer app.
Air quality was ‘severe’ at 25 monitoring stations and ‘very poor’ at 14 stations. Wazirpur recorded the worst air quality with an AQI of 474.
The Air Quality Early Warning System has forecast that Delhi’s air quality is likely to remain in the ‘severe’ to ‘very poor’ categories over the next two days.
The outlook for the following six days also indicates air quality is expected to stay in the ‘very poor’ range, extending the capital’s struggle with polluted winter air.