Thursday, December 29 2005 10:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The cold snap, sweeping North India, yesterday (Dec 28, 2005) claimed five more lives, all in hardest-hit Uttar Pradesh, pushing the death count this winter to 86 even as bright sunshine and rising mercury at many places provided much-needed respite from the hostile weather.

Uttar Pradesh, where Varanasi was the coldest place with a low of six degrees celsius, accounted for 71 fatalities followed by Punjab (12) and Haryana (three).

Delhi-ites woke up to a clear and sunny morning with cold wave conditions easing and air traffic operating smoothly after a week-end of chaos and confusion at airports.

Warm sunshine, clear skies and rising mercury brought cheers in Punjab and Haryana which groaned under an intense cold for the past fortnight.

Mercury stayed a few notches above normal in both states with Hisar in Haryana registering a minimum temperature of 8.1 degrees celsius.

The minimum temperature in Ambala settled at 6.4 degrees celsius.

Ludhiana and Patiala in Punjab recorded lows of 5.4 degrees and five degrees celsius respectively while the night temperature settled at 3.4 degrees celsius in Amritsar.

Residents of Kashmir valley had relief from the spine-chilling cold as mercury inched upwards after staying below the freezing point for the past one month.

Water also began flowing from taps which were frozen a few days ago.

Cold wave, however, persisted in Himachal Pradesh where high altitude areas received mild snowfall though mercury rose slightly in mid-and-lower hills.

Tribal valleys of Lahaul-Spiti, Pangi Pin and Hungrang reeled under biting cold with mercury hovering between minus 10 and minus 20 degrees celsius.

All lakes, ponds, springs and rivulets froze in upper hills.