Wednesday, December 21 2005 12:49 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chandigarh: Bone chilling temperatures and heavy fog affected normal life in parts of North India with Punjab bearing the brunt of the current spell of cold wave as the mercury dipped to new lows in Amritsar and Ludhiana.

It was not just the low temperature at Amritsar, recorded four degrees below the normal range, that made life miserable for its residents but also the fog which reduced visibility in the town and its surrounding areas considerably, the Meteorological Department said here.

Fog also reduced visibility at other places in the region, including Adampur (800 m), Halwara (300 m), Ambala (600 m), Sirsawa (200 m), Sirsa (zero visibility), Suratgarh (800 m), Bathinda (zero visibility) and Palam (300 m).

Ludhiana and Patiala also had cold nights recording respective minimum temperatures of 4 C and 5 C.

The low at Chandigarh increased by three degrees since yesterday at 7.6 C, which was a degree above the normal range.

Most Haryana towns also witnessed slight increase in the minimum temperatures. The minimum temperature at Ambala settled at 6 C. Hisar had a low of 7.2 C and the low at Karnal was 6 C.

Residents in Srinagar continued to face piercing cold and the minimum there was recorded at 3.9 C below the freezing point.