New Delhi:
Mercury rose in large parts of north India on Thursday after an extended bout of cold with rains likely in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana in coming days.
Temperatures in the national capital did not see any stark variations on a partially cloudy day as the maximum touched 21.9 degrees Celsius, which is normal for this time of the year.
The minimum though was a degree below normal at 7.1 degrees with the MeT office saying that the conditions on Friday would remain largely unchanged.
However, Himachal Pradesh had no relief from the biting cold. It had a heavily overcast sky and the MeT office predicted heavy snowfall in the state in the coming week.
Thus, the middle and higher reaches of Chamba, Lahaul and Spiti, Kangra, Kullu, Kinnaur and Shimla districts were bracing for snowfall while the lower hills were expecting heavy rainfall and thundershowers from midnight of February 4 to February 6.
As the chill continued to trouble the state, Manali recorded a low of -1.5 degrees while the mercury was at 4.7 degrees Celsius in Shimla.
Leading the jump in temperatures was Jammu and Kashmir where the weather has registered a remarkable turnaround over the last two days.
According to the MeT office, the minimum in Srinagar had climbed more than three notches to touch 1.8 degrees Celsius from the previous night's -1.6 degrees Celsius.
The hill resort of Pahalgam in south Kashmir, too, reported an improvement in temperatures as the mercury rose to -3.6 degrees Celsius from -6.7 degrees the night before.
Gulmarg, which had shivered at -4.6 degrees the previous night, recorded a low of -2.0 degrees Celsius, an increase by over two notches.
And, for once Leh town, at -12.2 degrees Celsius, was not the coldest place in the state as that distinction passed to Kargil which recorded a low of -13.6 degrees Celsius as compared to -12.4 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.
Punjab and Haryana, too, found relief as the chill eased a little with minimum temperatures rising by up to three notches above normal across both states.
The minimum in Haryana's Karnal and Patiala in Punjab settled at an identical 6.4 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal while Ambala, at 7.4 degrees, was three degrees above normal.
Ludhiana was the coldest place in the plains of Punjab and Haryana with a low of 6 degrees Celsius, which was one notch below normal.
Places like Patiala, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Hisar, Ambala and Karnal reported formation of fog and mist with the local MeT office talking of a rise in temperatures over the coming 24 hours.
Meanwhile, there is forecast for variable weather in the region up to February 3 accompanied by scattered light rain after February 2.
In Rajasthan, the mercury rose marginally in certain areas of the state with Sri Ganganagar registering the lowest temperature of 7.6 degrees while, elsewhere, the minimum hovered between 11.5 degrees and 15.3 degrees.
In Uttar Pradesh, where the weather remained mainly dry, cold conditions were reported at one or two places of the state while night temperatures rose in the Varanasi, Faizabad and Meerut divisions.
The lowest temperature in the state was recorded at 4.4 degrees Celsius at Najibabad with the MeT office saying that conditions would be mainly dry with chances of fog at some places in the coming 24 hours.