HYDERABAD,Jan19, 2012: At least 15 persons have lost their lives in the past one week following the unprecedented cold wave conditions sweeping Andhra Pradesh with temperatures dipping to below zero degree Celsius in some tribal villages in Visakhapatnam district.Seven cold wave-related deaths were reported from Adilabad, Visakhapatnam, Nellore and Vizianagaram districts on Tuesday where temperatures on an average dipped to 5 degrees Celsius. The other deaths were reported from Vizianagaram in north coastal Andhra, Nellore in south coastal Andhra and Karimnagar in Telangana region. The weatherman, however, had some good news for the shivering citizens of the state in the next 24 hours, forecasting that the cold wave over Rayalaseema and Telangana regions would subside during the period. Lambasingi, a tribal village in the interior forests of Chintapalle mandal in Visakhapatnam district, recorded the lowest minimum temperature of the season registering minus one degree Celsius, while Hyderabad recorded a freezing 8.4 degree Celsius over the weekend. Apart from 8.3 degree Celsius recorded on January 6 in 2010, this was the coldest since 1946 in Hyderabad. At Lambasingi village, located at 3,850 feet above the sea level in the Eastern Ghats, the minimum temperature has been hovering around zero degree Celsius for couple of days. Weather officials, however, would not accept the readings stating that it was not officially recorded by them using proper equipment.
