New Delhi: Severe cold conditions persist in north India, with temperatures dipping drastically in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, said reports on Friday, .

While J&K and Himachal are reeling under freezing cold, thick fog has affected normal life in vast swathes of the plains.

Incessant snowfall and cold wave over the last five days have thrown normal life out of gear in Himachal Pradesh, including the popular tourist resort town of Manali in the Kullu Valley.

Last night, Manali - a popular tourist destination - yesterday recorded coldest night of this season with temperatures dipping to -11 degrees Celsius.

Cold wave conditions continued unabated in Kashmir on Thursday as Leh town recorded the season's coldest night at minus 14.6 degrees Celsius.

Both Leh and Kargil, in the frontier Ladakh region, recorded the lowest temperatures of the season so far with the mercury plunging more than 14 degrees below the freezing point as Kashmir division continued to experience sub-zero nights.

The minimum temperature in Leh fell to bone-chilling minus 14.6 degrees Celsius, over a degree further down from the previous night's minus 13.0 degrees Celsius. Leh was the coldest place recorded in the state.

Delhiites today woke up to a foggy morning with minimum temperature settling at 9.8 degrees C.

Intense cold conditions accompanied by snowfall have so far left 24 people dead in Uttarakhand.

Icy winds from Uttarakhand swept through the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, its capital city of Lucknow was the the coldest place as it recorded 8.8 degrees Celsius today.

In Punjab, Amritsar recorded 6.7 degrees Celsius.

MeT office has warned that severe cold conditions will persist in the days to come.