Fog engulfs Punjab, Haryana

CHANDIGARH - Thick fog engulfed most of Punjab and Haryana and their joint capital Chandigarh Tuesday, throwing normal life out of gear.

“Dense fog prevailed in this region in the morning, reducing the visibility level to below 100 metres. This fog is due to the presence of western disturbances and excessive moisture in the atmosphere of the northern plains,” a Met official here said.

Due to the low visibility, many trains were delayed and hundreds of passengers were seen stranded at the Chandigarh railway station Tuesday. Road traffic was also moving at a snail’s pace because of the fog.

“We have to reach Lucknow to attend a wedding of our very close relative this evening. But railway officials have just announced that our train is late by over four hours. I don’t think that we can reach there in time,” said Nishant Jain, a harried passenger at the railway station here.

This city recorded a minimum temperature of 5.7 degrees Celsius Tuesday.

Punjab’s Amritsar city was the coldest in the region with a minimum temperature of minus 0.8 degrees Celsius, which was four degrees below average.

Patiala and Ludhiana settled at a minimum temperature of 5.5 and 6 degrees Celsius respectively.

“We are expecting similar conditions to prevail for another three-four days. Our department has predicted isolated spells of rain in the coming days that would bring relief from this fog and cold,” stated the weather official.

In Haryana, the minimum temperatures at Ambala, Hisar and Karnal were 4.9, 6.4 and 7 degrees Celsius respectively.