City shivers @ 3.5 deg C, lowest in the season so far
Muzaffarnagar coldest in the state with min temperature of 1.7 degrees Celsius
LUCKNOW: At 3.5 degrees Celsius, Lucknow recorded its coldest night of the season on Saturday. It was four degrees below normal. Muzaffarnagar was coldest in the state with 1.7 degree Celsius while Aligarh was no better at 1.8 degrees Celsius, six degrees below normal, the weather office said.
Last year, the minimum temperature in Lucknow dropped to 3.3 degrees Celsius on December 30. The all time lowest temperature for this month in Lucknow was 0.5 degrees Celsius, recorded on December 30, 1973.
However, Lucknowites are gradually coming to terms with the biting cold. “I’m staying in a paying guest facility . So I was unable to bring a big warm blanket. I woke due to cold and found my self shivering in the morning. I checked the temperature which was nearly 4°C at 5 am,” said Gaurav (goes by his first name).
In most UP cities, minimum temperature was below 5 degrees Celsius. Dense fog reduced visibility and affected air traffic and vehicular movement in the streets. Several trains were running behind schedule because of fog that gripped the entire northern region, a railway official said.
The Lucknow Meteorological Centre said the state capital and parts of Uttar Pradesh would experience cold wave and severe cold day conditions simultaneously till December 29, after which there would be rain.
The met department has issued warning of cold day to severe cold day conditions very likely at many places over the state. Dense to very dense fog was very likely at many places over the state, said weatherman JP Gupta. The local forecast for Lucknow and neighbouring areas is moderate to dense fog very likely in the morning and mainly clear sky thereafter. Maximum and minimum temperatures would be around 16 and 4 degrees Celsius respectively. Elsewhere in the state, weather is most likely to be dry and shallow to moderate fog is very likely at isolated places over the state.