Extreme cold wave conditions in Uttar Pradesh continued to prevail on Wednesday, with overcast skies and prediction of rain in some parts of the state is likely to worsen the weather.

Regional Met Office Director J.P. Gupta said that the cloudy weather conditions were due to a western disturbance and the situation was likely to remain so till Thursday. Mercury has dropped below normal by a few notches in many places.

The minimum temperature recorded in Lucknow was 8.4 degrees Celsius while the maximum was likely to be around 17 degrees Celsius. Kanpur was slightly colder with 8 degrees Celsius followed by Gorakhpur (9), Varanasi (9.2) and Allahabad (9.6). Agra remained the coldest in the state with six degrees Celsius.

Fog has also been reported from many parts of eastern and western UP, slowing down train and vehicular traffic, in which the Swarna Shatabdi Express train from New Delhi to Lucknow arrived 13 hours behind the scheduled time.