Cold wave claims 100 lives across India

Icy winds blowing from the Himalayan states have killed 100 people in north India in the past 72 hours. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are the worst-hit — 63 people have died in the two states. Night-long snowfall in the upper reaches of Kashmir has cut off the valley from rest of the country for the second day on Monday.
The cold spell would last another 48-hours, weathermen said.

The sudden fall in day and night temperatures across north India was due to heavy snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and some places in Uttarakhand. Western disturbances too played a part in reducing temperatures.  The governments of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have said that most of the people who died used to live on the streets and had little protection from the extremely cold winds blowing across north India for the past five days.

Weather experts also forecast small amount of rain in parts of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh in the next 24 hours. This could bring down temperatures further.
The cold wave also hit life in Delhi. In the past three days, 150 flights got delayed and 30 were rescheduled because of low visibility. The night temperature is hovering between 5-9 degrees Celsius in Delhi. In Srinagar night temperatures are at sub-zero levels. Plenty of snowfall is forecast across Kashmir.