Patiala, Jan. 1 -- After light to moderate rainfall at isolated places on Thursday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange alert, predicting a cold wave and dense to very dense fog across several parts of the state over the next few days. Both minimum and maximum temperatures are expected to fall further, the country's nodal weather agency said.

According to the IMD's bulletin, minimum temperatures are likely to drop by 3deg to 5deg Celsius over the next two days, resulting in bone-chilling conditions. The IMD said light to moderate rainfall occurred at isolated places in Punjab during the past 24 hours. The showers were accompanied by thunder and lightning at a few locations. Dense to very dense fog was also observed...