Winter takes over: Coldest December day in Delhi; schools closed in UP's Bareilly, timings curbed in Patna

LArge parts of bharat persist in to scottish reel below common cold wave conditions with more dense fog, snowfall and severe cold days expected in parts of the country over the next few days. While Delhi recorded its coldest December day so far this season on Thursday, school timings were changed in Bihar's Patna and schools were closed for upto class 8 in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly.In the hilly areas, IMD predicted light rainfall or snowfall likely over Jammu Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand from December 20-23. It also predicted dense fog to prevail in parts of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, as well as severe cold conditions in Uttar Pradesh on December 19 and 20.Talking about the overall winter season in the country, IMD earlier predicted that central India, as well as some parts of northwest and northeast India, are likely to experience above-normal occurrences of cold wave days.Delhi records coldest winter day in DecemberDelhi on Thursday, December 18, recorded its coldest December day of the winter season so far, news agency PTI reported. The maximum temperature settled at 20.1 degrees Celsius, 2.1 degrees below the normal.The second-lowest maximum temperature of this season was recorded on December 4 at 23.7 degrees Celsius. For comparison, the lowest maximum temperature recorded in December last year was 14.6 degrees Celsius.Meanwhile, IMD sounded a yellow alert for the entire national capital on Friday for dense fog. It said that a partly cloudy sky is expected to prevail along with dense fog till forenoon.Schools closed in UP amid red, orange alertThe India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a mix of red, yellow and orange alerts in Uttar Pradesh for Friday, December 19. A red alert was issued in Prayagraj, Azamgarh, Bareilly, Kushinagar, Deoria, Kanpur and Etawah, among others, and an orange alert was sounded in Meerut, Muzafarnagar, Aligarh and Mirazapur.Amid the severe cold, the Bareilly district administration on Wednesday issued a notice for closure of schools up to class 8 for the next three days, the PTI report said.In Bihar's Patna, schools were ordered to remain open only from 9 am to 4.30 pm. Classes with boards and pre-board exams were exempted from this order.Night temperatures rise in KashmirWhile the northern and central part of India struggles with extreme cold, Kashmir reportedly experienced relief as the night temperatures rose and settled above the freezing point.However, the residents are bracing for the ‘Chillai-Kalan’, the 40-day harshest winter period. This period is expected to coincide with snowfall and rainfall. The mercury in most places in the valley settled above the freezing point on Wednesday, with Srinagar recording a low of 0.2 degrees Celsius at night.(With inputs from news agencies)