New Delhi:
About 239 people have died due to the biting cold across north India. In Uttar Pradesh 15 more people died on Saturday night in the cold wave conditions. In Delhi, the minimum temperature rose marginally to 9 degrees from 8, the maximum stood at 12 degrees, the lowest in the last five years.
Cold wave and the dense fog have disrupted normal life in parts of northern India. Most parts of the region are experiencing chilly weather and foggy conditions.
Dense fog took its toll on transportation making commuting precarious as the mercury plummeted in India's western Punjab and the northern Uttar Pradesh state.
Long trails of automobiles drifted slowly to avoid collisions that became highly probable because of the dense fog.
The situation was similar in parts of northern Uttar Pradesh where fog and mist eclipsed the city life in the early hours, vehicles could only move at a snail's speed.
The Metrological Department has attributed the prevailing weather conditions to western disturbances that caused snowfall in the hill states and upper regions of Himalayas.
Not just in India but it's the worst winter in Europe in decades. Heavy snowfall on Saturday forced the delay and cancellation of scores of flights at airports in France and Germany and caused traffic snarls on the roads in Poland.
In Frankfurt 216 domestic and international flights had been cancelled because of heavy snowfall. Twenty-five per cent flights in France have been cancelled. The Europe star train service between Britain and France is also hit.
And one of the world's largest ports in China faced the worst ice conditions in 30 years and ice-breaking ships were working to keep the path to it open.
Some ships were having trouble reaching the port at Tianjin - the port for China's capital, Beijing, and the third largest in the country. In 2008, the Tianjin port was among the top 15 in the world in container handling.
The region has been hit by its worst winter weather in decades over the past week, including Beijing's coldest morning in almost 40 years and its biggest snowfall since 1951. Temperatures over the next week in Beijing are forecast to remain below freezing.
Cold wave and the dense fog have disrupted normal life in parts of northern India. Most parts of the region are experiencing chilly weather and foggy conditions.
Dense fog took its toll on transportation making commuting precarious as the mercury plummeted in India's western Punjab and the northern Uttar Pradesh state.
Long trails of automobiles drifted slowly to avoid collisions that became highly probable because of the dense fog.
The situation was similar in parts of northern Uttar Pradesh where fog and mist eclipsed the city life in the early hours, vehicles could only move at a snail's speed.
The Metrological Department has attributed the prevailing weather conditions to western disturbances that caused snowfall in the hill states and upper regions of Himalayas.
Not just in India but it's the worst winter in Europe in decades. Heavy snowfall on Saturday forced the delay and cancellation of scores of flights at airports in France and Germany and caused traffic snarls on the roads in Poland.
In Frankfurt 216 domestic and international flights had been cancelled because of heavy snowfall. Twenty-five per cent flights in France have been cancelled. The Europe star train service between Britain and France is also hit.
And one of the world's largest ports in China faced the worst ice conditions in 30 years and ice-breaking ships were working to keep the path to it open.
Some ships were having trouble reaching the port at Tianjin - the port for China's capital, Beijing, and the third largest in the country. In 2008, the Tianjin port was among the top 15 in the world in container handling.
The region has been hit by its worst winter weather in decades over the past week, including Beijing's coldest morning in almost 40 years and its biggest snowfall since 1951. Temperatures over the next week in Beijing are forecast to remain below freezing.
