North India continued to shiver in the icy grip of winter Sunday, as a marginal thaw in the capital's weather was reversed with the temperature dipping again.

Residents of the national capital woke up to a cold morning after the city received 1.2 mm of rainfall.

Street urchins clustered around small paper fires while people out on morning walks resorted to thick shawls and woollen caps to protect themselves against the bone-chilling cold.  
 
"We'd been complaining all the while that this year's winter has not been cold enough. Now all of a sudden it is freezing," exclaimed Neha Mehra, a young executive clasping her leather blazer as she shopped at Dilli Haat in south Delhi.

The mercury dipped to 6.5 degrees Celsius, a degree below normal. The maximum temperature in the day was 16.9 degrees Celsius, four degrees below normal.

But Martha Hewitt, an American in India for a vacation, said: "This is absolutely lovely weather. It almost feels like back home. The only problem is you cannot travel by auto-rickshaws anymore."
 
The weather forecast said Delhi would see a partly cloudy sky Monday morning, with fog descending on some areas. The minimum temperature is likely to hover around five degrees Celsius.

The winter chill pervaded most of north India, with Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal experiencing below normal temperatures.

Himachal Pradesh capital Shimla recorded a maximum temperature of one degree Celsius while the minimum was minus two degrees. 

"Weather conditions were equally severe in Chandigarh and Dehra Dun where the minimum and maximum temperatures ranged between five and 15 degrees Celsius," an official of the India Meteorological Department here said.

In contrast, temperatures were above normal in east Uttar Pradesh.