Cold wave has further intensified in North India. Intense cold conditions threw normal life out of gear in Punjab and Haryana where the minimum temperature dipped by four degrees below normal yesterday. Dense fog engulfing the region reduced visibility to just few metres, hampering movement of rail and road traffic. Narnaul in Haryana was coldest with a low of 1.2 deg C, four notches below normal, while Hisar braved a minimum temperature of 3 deg C, two notches below normal.

The mercury further plummeted in Uttar Pradesh claiming eight more lives during the past 24 hours. Etawah and Orai at 2 degrees Celsius each were the coldest places in the state. Lucknow recorded a low of 5 deg C, two notches below normal, while it was minimum 4 deg C in Varanasi and 4.7 deg C in Kanpur.

Intense cold wave continued to sweep Uttarakhand. A two-and-a-half month old elephant calf died in Kotdwar forest in Pauri district due to cold. The calf was found dead at Sigaddi in Laldhang range by forest guards.

However, there was some respite from biting cold in

Delhi as the day temperature rose by over four degrees. The maximum in the national capital rose to 15.6 deg Celsius, five notches below normal. The minimum temperature fell to 4.7 deg C, two points below normal.

Rajasthan also continued to shiver with Mount Abu recording a low of minus 4.2 deg C, while Churu was coldest in the plains with the minimum settling at 0.4 deg C.

The high altitude areas of Himachal Pradesh shivered

under sub-zero temperature as the mercury plummeted to a low of minus 15.4 deg C in Keylong and minus 5 deg C in Kalpa in Kinnaur district. The state capital Shimla recorded a low of 3.6 deg C, while it was minus 0.5 deg C in Bhuntar.

In Jammu and Kashmir, Leh recorded a minimum temperature of minus 20.2 deg Celsius yesterday. The nearby Kargil town recorded minus 15.8 deg Celsius. The

temperature settled at a low of -2.2 deg C in Srinagar. Pahalgam was the coldest place in the Kashmir Valley with minus 11.7 deg C. Gulmarg recorded a minimum temperature of minus 11 deg C.

Climate Change Expert says the extreme cold conditions in the plains is a localised phenomenon and it will be incorrect to directly link it with climate change. Talking to AIR, Aditya Ghosh of the Centre for Science and Environment said that the weather has, however, become extremely erractic in the past few years.