Inclement weather hits UP transport system

Lucknow, Dec 12 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh continued to shiver on Friday as temperatures dropped further, the winter chill being compounded by icy winds blowing across the state. While fog on the outskirts of the capital city wreaked havoc on the transport system.

Thursday was the coldest day in recent times with the minimum temperature dropping to 3.8 degrees celsius and the maximum to 23.5 degrees celsius, three degrees below the normal.

The weatherman said that the chill was only going to get worse in the coming days as the icy winds blowing from the Himalaya foothills would gather more momentum.

Muzaffarnagar was the coldest Thursday with the mercury dropping to 1.4 degrees celsius. Lucknow was the second coldest place in UP while Shahjahanpur (4.5) and Agra (5.1) were also considerably cold.

Regional Met director J.P. Gupta said that the winter chill was aggravated due to a western disturbance and thunder showers and rains are expected in most parts of the state over the next few days.

While there was no fog for the second consecutive day in Lucknow and its neighbouring areas, fog and resultant poor visibility on the outskirts continued to disrupt air, rail and road traffic. As a result, two flights were cancelled Thursday and more than five dozen trains were running behind their schedules.

Major trains running late included Farakka Express, New Jalpaiguri, Sampar Kranti Express, Varanasi-Delhi Special, Anand Vihar Special, Kumbh Express, Gorakhpur-Dehradun Express, Saryu-Yamuna Express, Upasana Express, Chapra Express, Amritsar-Howrah and Rapti Sagar Express.

An Indigo flight from Mumbai to Lucknow and a Jet Connect flight got cancelled as well.