At least 34 more deaths were reported from Uttar Pradesh, taking the total toll beyond 200 mark, as cold wave conditions continued unabated in North, East and Central parts of the country, even as temperature soared slightly in some places.
The national capital witnessed a chilly but sunny morning with the mercury rising a bit during the early hours.
There was a shallow fog in the morning hours and the minimum temperature was recorded at 4.4 degree Celsius, three degrees below normal and up from Tuesday's 3.3 deg C.
The intense cold wave snuffed out 34 more lives in Uttar Pradesh taking the toll to 233 with the mercury dipping to sub-zero levels in at least five districts of the state.
Five persons died due to the chill in Deoria, four each in Ghazipur, Kushinagar and Maharajganj, three each in Ballia, Rae Bareli and Etah, two each in Bijnore, Mirzapur, Chandauli and one each in Bahraich and Hathras.
Met office sources said in Lucknow that mercury fell to sub-zero levels in Gorakhpur, Bareilly, Ghazipur, Kanpur and Lucknow and the minimum temperature was around ten notches below normal.
Gorakhpur and Ghazipur with minus 1 deg C were the coldest places in the state followed by Lucknow with minus 0.7 deg C.
However, residents of Kashmir got much needed respite from the intense cold wave as the night temperature rose by five degrees even as some areas of the Valley received fresh snowfall.
The night temperature in Srinagar was recorded at minus 0.3 deg C, an increase of 5.2 degrees compared to last night which was the coldest of this winter, a MET official said.
Kargil town in frontier region of Ladakh was the coldest recorded place in the state where mercury settled at minus 15.8 degrees Celsius.
Many areas of the Valley including Srinagar received snowfall equivalent to 0.6 mm of rainfall. Qazigund, Pahalgam and Kupwara areas of the Valley also got snowfall.
People in parts of Punjab and Haryana woke up to a bright sunny day after days of foggy weather but there was no let up in cold conditions.
It was freezing cold in Punjab's Adampur, which recorded a minimum temperature of 0.6 deg C, down four notches. Bathinda, too, experienced a cold night at 1.2 deg C, three below normal.
Rajasthan also reeled under cold wave condition with Churu being the coldest place at 0.2 deg C.
While Sriganganagar recorded 1.7 deg C, Pilani and Vanasthali recorded minimum of 2.1 and 3.1 deg C.
Uttarakhand experienced a let-up in biting cold with most of the places including Dehradun and those in the higher reaches registering a marginal rise in temperature.
Dehradun, where the mercury had dropped to half degree below freezing point yesterday making it the coldest day of the season in the city in 68 years, recorded a minimum of 1.9 deg C.
The temperature in higher reaches also rose marginally with Tehri recording a minimum of 1.5 deg C, up from Tuesday's 0.5 deg C.
Kolkata witnessed the coldest day in a decade as temperature dropped to nine deg C.
"It is the coldest day in 10 years, it is going to remain at around 9 deg C in the next 24 hours," Met department officials said.
Agartala also recorded coldest day of the decade as the mercury dipped to 4.6 deg C today.
Madhya Pradesh also continued to feel the pinch with temperatures dipping to sub-zero levels in some regions.
Hill station Pachmarhi remained the coldest as mercury plunged below zero deg C with a minimum temperature of minus two deg C, while Datia and Umaria shivered at 0.3 deg C.
