Cold wave in North India

Here are lots of headlines regarding "Cold" conditions in North India...
Dense fog disrupts rail traffic - December 21, 2008
Cold wave grips Bihar - December 18, 2008
Dense fog disrupts air, rail traffic in Delhi - December 30, 2008
Trains starting from Jammu cancelled - August 5, 2008
Heavy fog affects flights, train schedules in Delhi (Second Lead) - December 29, 2008
Flights, trains to and from Delhi delayed by fog (Lead) - December 29, 2008
Three die after falling off overcrowded train in West Bengal - November 19, 2008
Dense fog engulfs Delhi, hits flight, train schedules - December 29, 2008
Cold wave claims 50 lives
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New Delhi - Over 50 people have died as towns and cities in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state came under the grip of a cold wave, a news report said on Saturday.

"Over 50 deaths due to cold were recorded in hospitals across the state in the past week. Most of the victims were pavement dwellers," a government spokesperson told the Indo-Asian News Service, Ians.

The deaths were reported from districts such as Sultanpur, Banda, Jaunpur and Rae Bareli, which witnessed near-freezing temperatures.

Temperatures have plummeted as state capital Lucknow and other main cities such as Kanpur and Agra saw temperatures between 3.6 degrees celsius and 4.4 degrees celsius.

Little protection against cold
Beggars and the homeless spent the bitterly cold nights with little protection beyond plastic sheets and sacks, the reports said. They were seen lighting fires to save themselves from the bitter cold.

The thick blanket of fog disrupted air and rail traffic in the state. Even on the roads, vehicles moved slowly to avoid any accidents.

The state home department has issued orders for bonfires to be lit along roads for the homeless. It has also advised the local administrations of various districts to order the closure of educational institutions due to the extreme cold.

Indian weather officials said the cold would persist over the next few days.

"The cold spell will continue for at least another week even though the temperature could rise a little over the next 24 hours," state meteorological department director JP Gupta said.
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Chennai:
City remains mild after 2 nights of cold before 1-Jan-09.
Now the min. temperature is around 19.5°C.
For next 3 days the Max temperature will be around 29 deg and Min temperature will be around 19 deg.
Mainly clear skies and humidity around 50%, and this might go up after 48hrs.
No threat of rain and not even drizzles.