Lucknow, Dec 15 (IANS): The winter chill continues unabated in the state, with snowfall in the Himalayas adding to the inclement weather.

Eleven people - three in Banda, one each in Etawah and Hamirpur and two in Mahoba - are reported to have died in the last 24 hours due to the cold wave conditions. Two people in Mirzapur, and one each in Varanasi and Bhadohi also died because of intense cold.

The regional Met Office said that the weather would slightly improve in the next 36 hours.

Shahjahanpur was the coldest place in the state at 3 degrees Celsius. Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Jhansi, Kanpur, Banda, Sultanpur, Hamirpur and Allahabad continued to reel under the cold spell with below-normal temperatures.

Regional Met Office director J.P. Gupta said that the western disturbance, which had brought a spell of rain in the past two days, had weakened considerably and would peter away in the next day or two.

Rainfall of 3.1 mm was recorded in the state capital in the last 24 hours and winds were laden with moisture, the weatherman said.

Though fog receded in the past few days, trains continue to run late and over two dozen trains are running behind schedule, officials said. Poor visibility also hit the air traffic to and from the Chaudhary Charan Singh airport in the state capital.

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