Chandigarh, Dec 31 (IANS): The last day of the year 2013 turned out to be icy cold and wet for residents of most parts of Punjab and Haryana. Rains accompanied by icy winds lashed many areas Tuesday.

Met officials here said rainfall was witnessed in most parts of both states since the early hours of the day. Both states remained overcast throughout Tuesday in contrast to the sunny days in the past one week.

The officials said the new year will have a wet start, with most areas likely to experience rain Wednesday too.

Even though the minimum and maximum temperatures showed slight improvement from those recorded in the past two days, rain and icy winds affected normal life.

With misty conditions prevailing over most places, especially along highways, visibility was also affected.

Chandigarh recorded a minimum of 5.6 degrees Celsius, up from the 3.4 degrees Celsius recorded Monday morning. The maximum temperature here was 20.6 degrees Celsius.

In Punjab, Amritsar saw the minimum rising to 1.8 degrees Celsius from 0.8 degrees Celsius recorded Monday. Ludhiana and Patiala cities also recorded lows of 1.6 Celsius and 3 degrees Celsius, respectively.

In Haryana, Hisar town, which was the coldest in the past two days with sub-zero minimum temperature, was warmer Tuesday with a low of 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to minus 0.1 degrees Celsius Monday.

Agriculture experts said the rain was a welcome sign for farmers as this will give relief to crops from the frost that had set in during the past few days.