Icy winds sweep north India

Icy winds swept north India, which continued to shiver under severe cold with night temperatures dipping further and a thick blanket of fog throwing road, rail and air traffic out of gear.

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In Delhi, air and rail services were paralysed due to dense fog, which enveloped the city reducing visibility to 10metres in the night amid further drop in minimum temperature. Visibility on Tuesday was a mere 100metres till 10am, the Meteorological Department in Delhi said. Several flights and trains were cancelled or rescheduled. Night temperature dipped to five degrees Celsius against Monday's six degrees Celsius.

Normal life was disrupted in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh due to fog that hit road and rail traffic, a report from Chandigarh said.

Chilly winds from the hills forced people to remain indoors though the minimum temperature rose to 5.2 degrees, two degrees below normal, from the record low of one degree recorded on Monday.

A report from Sonepat (Haryana) said a large number of daily commuters were stranded at various stations due to late running or cancellation of express and suburban trains.

A Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) report said normal life in the city and adjoining areas was hit with the mercury dipping further aggravating cold wave conditions. Chilly winds swept the region from the early hours with a thick fog disrupting rail and road traffic. About a dozen trains were running hours behind schedule.

A Jaipur report said people in Rajasthan got a slight respite from the intense cold wave as the mercury rose from one to four degrees in many places in the state.