A cold wave tightened its grip as rain continued to lash Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow on Monday morning and the minimum temperature in the region was set to dip further, the regional meteorological office said.
Residents of Lucknow woke up to a steady spell of rain, leaving many schoolchildren and office-goers in the lurch. Icy winds blowing at a speed of 15 km per hour from neighbouring Uttarakhand only added to the winter bite.
Many parts of the state would witness cloudy weather or rain, especially eastern Uttar Pradesh, the Met office predicted. The state capital has been lashed by rain in the last 24 hours. A drop in day and night temperatures would continue in the coming week, the Met office said.
"Icy winds blowing in due to snowfall in Himachal Pradesh and neighbouring Uttarakhand will add to the chill. Uttar Pradesh will face the winter at its fullest within a week," the Met office said. Fog also appeared in some parts of Uttar Pradesh and was set to thicken by the month-end, the meteorological office said.
In Kashmir, mercury dropped slightly below zero in Srinagar and more in other parts of the Kashmir Valley on Monday even as the minimum overnight temperature in the Jammu and Kashmir capital was recorded at this winter season's lowest.
In the Kashmir Valley, mercury dipped to 3.6 degrees Celsius below the frezing point in Gulmarg and minus 3.4 degrees Celsius in Pahalgam.
"Minimum temperature today (Monday) in Srinagar was minus 0.9 degree," an official of the local weather office told IANS here.
He said the dip in the minimum temperature was due to mostly clear night sky and dry weather conditions. The sunshine was mild in Srinagar on Monday morning.
Kargil town in Ladakh region was the coldest in the state on Monday at minus 9.7 degrees Celcius while Leh town shivered at minus 9 degrees. The official said Kargil recorded the lowest overnight temperature in Jammu and Kashmir at minus 9.7 degrees.
