Cold wave
A homeless man, wrapped in a quilt, sits in an open space on a cold winter morning.Representative pic. Reuters file

An extreme cold wave accompanied by snowfall has left 24 people dead in Uttarakhand, officials said on Thursday.

The dead include two from Haldwani, three from Nainital, and six from Bhimtal and Bageshwar areas, reports NDTV.

Bageshwar and Almora, two districts on the foothills of Himalayas, have witnessed snowfall, which is a rare occurrence at this time of the year.

Icy cold winds from Uttarakhand swept through neighbouring Uttar Pradesh; its capital city of Lucknow was the coldest place, where the temperature went as low as 6.6 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.

Harsher days have been forecast by the weatherman with the mercury expected to drop further.