At 4.8° C, Nashik shivers but runs

Nashikites woke up to extreme cold weather on Monday, January 9. The temperature had dipped to 4.8° Celsius, with biting wind thrown in. Fog surrounded the banks of the river Godavari as Nashik made a late start to its day.

This winter has been colder than usual for Nashikites. A record low since 2002 was noted on January 7, 2012 with the mercury dropping to 4.4° Celsius.

All through the winter, the temperature has been hovering around 5° to 9° Celsius. The afternoons are warm, though, with temperatures around 20° to 25° Celsius. This season, many tourists flocked to Nashik and were unprepared for the cold wave. The worst hit are probably the outstation pilgrims, who visit the city for a holy dip in the Godavari.

Residents of Nashik displayed their humanitarianism in spades despite the dropping mercury, when they came out en masse early on Sunday, January 8. Thousands wearing the navy blue 'Nashik Run' T-shirts gathered on the Mahatmanagar grounds.

The Nashik Run Charitable Trust organises the Nashik Run every year, wherein Nashikites contribute by buying T-shirts. The amount thus collected is given to charities for the underprivileged in the city and the district.

Nashikites responded to a decade of Nashik Runs by buying about 20,000 T-shirts and contributing around Rs70 lakh.