Mercury dips as rain, snow, winds lash region

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh/Jammu, March 2

The Kashmir Valley witnessed heavy snowfall on Monday, disrupting surface and air traffic and the Met office has forecast more rain and snowfall till Tuesday.

The Jammu-Srinagar highway has been shut due to heavy snowfall and landslides in the Lasri, Chandrakot, Seri, Ramsu and Panthial areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

“The highway is closed because of heavy snow and rain, as well as landslides. It is still closed,” said Inspector General (Traffic) Munir Khan.

There has been eight cm of snowfall in Srinagar till Monday morning while the minimum temperature was recorded at 0.4 degrees Celsius, said the Met director.

Widespread rain accompanied by strong winds lashed most parts of Haryana and Punjab affecting normal life and bringing down minimum temperatures in the region. The rainfall though is considered beneficial for the wheat crop.

"A deep trough has been created over the region due to which isolated places in Punjab and Haryana can face thunder squall and hailstorms with wind speed exceeding 45 km per hour in the next 48 hours", MeT officials said here. Bad weather conditions have revived winter as people have taken out woollens and quilts since yesterday with minimum temperatures dropping drastically in Haryana and Punjab.

Though the rainfall is considered beneficial for the wheat crop, the farmers in the region are a worried lot with the rainfall submerging the standing crop. 

An official spokesperson for the meteorological department at Haryana Agriculture University (HAU) said 30.2 mm rainfall had been reported so far in the region which was above average this season. But the accompanying winds blowing at around 25 to 30 km per hour were causing more worries to the farmers. 

"Wheat and mustard crop, which has grown fully and loaded with grain, could not withstand the winds during rains", he said. MeT official has predicted intermittent showers in the next 48 hours.

Reports said Amritsar was the coldest in the region with a low of six degrees Celsius, which was two notches below normal. While Narnaul and Ludhiana settled at an identical low of 13 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal, the minimum temperature at Bhiwani was 13.2 degrees Celsius.  Karnal had a low of 13.5 degrees Celsius followed by 14.3 degrees Celsius at Hisar, three notches above normal.

Patiala recorded 14.4 degrees Celsius, which was four notches above normal, and Chandigarh recorded 15.2 degrees Celsius, five notches above normal. Ambala recorded 18 degrees Celsius, which was eight notches above normal.