Chandigarh, Jan 12 (IANS): The cold wave largely subdued in most parts of Punjab and Haryana on Sunday with a steep rise in mercury and reduction of fog intensity, the weather bureau here said.

But it has predicted widespread rains in the region on Monday, bringing the temperatures considerably down again.

Narnaul in Haryana and Gurdaspur in Punjab were the coldest with a low of 3.5 degrees and 5.2 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The holy city of Amritsar and the industrial city Ludhiana recorded the minimum temperature at 7.4 degrees and 9.9 degrees Celsius, respectively.

A day earlier these towns recorded a low of 5.1 degrees and 6.1 degrees.

In Chandigarh, the capital of both Punjab and Haryana, saw a steep rise in mercury at 9.7 degrees, a rise by 4.9 notches from Saturday's.

In Haryana, Ambala and Bhiwani saw the night temperature at 8.1 degrees each, while it was 7.4 degrees in Karnal, 6 degrees in Rohtak, 6.3 degrees in Hisar and 6.8 degrees in Bhiwani.