The cold related toll in northern India mounted to 32 with two fresh deaths in Uttar Pradesh while mercury plummeted further and dense and disruptive fog hindered normal life in most of the places in the region.

Three deaths were reported, two in Uttar Pradesh and one from Hoshiarpur district of Punjab, where mercury hovered between one to four degrees below normal.

In Delhi, dense fog reduced the visibility to about 500 mt in the morning.

Srinagar [Images], with a low of minus 5.2� C, 3� below normal was coldest in the hills and Jalandhar recorded a sub zero temperature of minus 0.4� C, making it the coldest in plains.

A dense fog engulfed Jalandhar in the morning reducing visibility to a few metres only.

With a minimum of 4� below normal, Chandigarh settled at 3.4� C.

Met office sources said Haryana and Chandigarh also hovered between 1� and 4� C.

Kanpur, Agra [Images] and Sultanpur were the coldest place in Uttar Pradesh at 5� C and cold wave conditons were likely to intensify there in the next 48 hours.