Lucknow, Jan 3 (IANS): The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an alert for cold day conditions and very dense fog in 36 districts of Uttar Pradesh for the next two days.

The state government has ordered closure of all schools from January 4 to 7 in view of the cold wave conditions.

As per the weather department, the temperature is likely to drop 4.5 degrees Celsius below normal in these districts.

The districts that are likely to experience intensely cold days include Mirzapur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Mau, Ballia, Deoria, Gorakhpur, Basti, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Siddharth Nagar, Gonda, Balrampur, Shravasti, Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Ambedkar Nagar, Bijnor, Amroha, Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Sambhal, Badaun, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Lalitpur, Jhansi, and two other districts.

On Monday, Fatehpur recorded the lowest temperature in the state with 5 degrees Celsius, followed by Kanpur city (5.4), Muzaffarnagar (7), Etawah (7.2), Aligarh (7.4), Hardoi (7.5), Najibabad (7.6), Jhansi (7.7), and Basti (8).

In state capital Lucknow, the maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded at 17 and 10 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The forecast for Lucknow is moderate to dense fog in the morning and clear sky later, said Mohd Danish, in-charge of the Lucknow Met Department.