People warm themselves by a fire during a cold winter morning in Kathmandu on
A severe spell of cold has claimed close to 50 lives across Nepal this year even as mercury plunged below sub normal level in Kathmandu.

The sharp drop in temperatures over the week has taken a heavy toll, especially in the Terai and other southern Nepal regions. The downward drop in mercury levels continued with the temperature plunging close to minus one in the capital today. Kathmandu witnessed the coldest day of the year yesterday with the mercury dropping to minus 1.1 degree Celsius.