Cold, fog plague North India

New Delhi: A severe cold wave prevailed on Thursday in North India where a thick fog cover has thrown normal life out of gear.

Fog enveloped the capital Delhi for the second day today reducing visibility below 50 metres in the morning hours and affecting air and rail traffic even as the mercury plummeted below five degree Celsius.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 4.8 degree Celsius, two degrees below normal and down from the previous day's 5.6 degrees. Yesterday, the maximum was recorded at 15.5 degree Celsius, five degrees below normal.

Fog descended on the capital early this morning delaying around ten flights. The normal visibility dropped below 50 metres. The fog cover lifted at around 10am.

Several trains were also running behind schedule due to fog in north India.

The Kashmir Valley also continued to reel under extreme cold as minimum temperatures across the region remained below freezing point.

Mercury in the summer capital Srinagar settled at a low of minus 1.4 degrees Celsius.

Srinagar city has witnessed a slight respite from the extreme cold weather since a spell of snowfall led to increase in the minimum temperature, though mercury has remained sub-zero.

The night temperature in the famous skiing resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir plunged to minus 12.6 degrees Celsius, a drop of 0.2 degrees from on Wednesday.

In the south Kashmir's tourist resort of Pahalgam, the minimum temperature was recorded at minus 5.0 degrees Celsius, an increase of 7.2 degrees.