In pictures | Cold wave leaves North India shivering
The HinduCold weather conditions continued in several areas of northern India including Punjab, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, and neighbouring Haryana. Intense cold wave gripped the lower hills of Himachal Pradesh as the local weather department issued an orange alert for severe cold in Bilaspur, Una, Hamirpur and Mandi districts for four days from Monday. Ajmer City experienced fog this morning, with the minimum temperature dropping to 11 degrees Celsius, as per the IMD. According to the Indian Meteorological Department, a cold wave occurs when the minimum temperature is 10°C or less for plains and 0°C or less for the hilly regions and negative departure from normal day temperature is 4.5 to 6.4°C. A day before the harshest winter period in Kashmir, ‘Chillai Kalan’, the temperature plunged several degrees below freezing point across the valley, with Srinagar witnessing its coldest night of the season so far.