The winter has been extraordinarily hostile this year in the fertile plains of Punjab. Several issues and warnings were issued in the state on account of the blinding fog and chilling winter conditions. So much was the menace of the cold that several regions of Punjab recorded lower temperatures than popular holiday destinations in the hilly areas of the north. The minimum temperature in Nawahshehr was reported to reach zero degrees during Saturday-Sunday. In the Indian Meteorological Department bulletin on Sunday, the minimum temperatures were upto 4 degress below normal. In SBS, the mercury was reported to touch 0° C.
One of the factors contributing to the shivering conditions of the plains was the lack of sunlight due to thick fog enveloping the state. Where temperature was recorded to be 11°C midday at Shimla, the same was recorded to be in the single digits in several pockets of Punjab. The midday temperature at the hilly areas of Kufri is 14°C with sunlight on Monday. At the same time, the midday temperature at Dharmashala is 15°C with the lowest expected to drop to 5°C early morning tomorrow. In contrast, the lowest temperature has been recorded to 3°C in Jalandhar for the past few days. The minimum temperature in Ludhiana was recorded to be below 2.5°C on Sunday.
The minimum temperature dropped by a margin of a 2.2° C than normal temperatures on Sunday. Although temperatures regained normality by Monday. Amritsar recorded a record temperature of 1.4°C on Friday, which was the lowest this season. During the past 24 hours, the minimum temperatures were in the range of 3-7 degrees across the state. The highest maximum temperature in the state were down by 8.6°C from normal.
Seeing the cold conditions, the Punjab Government decided to increase the vacation break of school students until January 15. It has further been extended to January 20 for students below Class 5.