W E A T H E R

CHANDIGARH | REGION | NATION  

• Rain to continue in region

• Met says August will be wet

REGION

NATION

Read under headings Max (maximum temperature), Min (minimum temperature), R (rainfall in past 24 hours) and TR (total rainfall):

Rain to continue in region
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 2
Rainfall: Rain or thundershowers occurred at most places in east Rajasthan, at many places in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, West Rajasthan, West Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal, at a few places in East Uttar Pradesh and at isolated places in the rest of the region. The chief amounts of rainfall in cm are: Chandigarh 12, Delhi (Ridge) 5, Kalka and Pataudi 3 each, New Delhi (Safdarjung), New Delhi (Palam), Faridabad and Rewari 2 each, Ambala, Hisar, Panchkula and Thanesar 1 each, Himachal Pradesh: Ponta 6, Kandaghat 4, Dharamsala 3, Kangra and Shimla 2 each; Kahu and Arki 1 each; Punjab: Ropar 6, Patiala 3, Balachaur, Fazilka, Phillaur and Samrala 1 each; East Rajasthan: Mount Abu 24, Gangapur 14, Mangal Dam and Udaipur Vati 7 each, Bharatpur and Neem Ka Thana 6 each, Amer, Amanwas, Merka, Dausa, Mawali, Jaina Ramgarh and Safia 5 each, Chalumbar, Sanganer, Tijara and Chalera 4 each, Atru, Chirwa, Dholpur, Ladani, Roopwas, Jayal, Khetri, Navalgarh, Sikar, Nadauti, Pindwara and Jaipur 3 each and Bigara and Jhalwar 2 each, West Rajasthan Bali and Sujangarh 5 each, Anupgarh, Loni and Rajgarh 3 each, Bilara 2 and Bikaner and Sriganganagar 1 each; East Uttar Pradesh: Jaunpur 6, Varanasi (BHU) 5, Sultanpur 4, Gorakhpur and Varanasi A.P. 3 each, Ballia, Kakrahi and Rigoli 2 each and Birdghat and Control room 1 each; West Uttar Pradesh: Agra 7, Mohana 3 and Etawah 1; and Uttaranchal: Dehra Dun 7, Pokhal 3, Pithoragarh and Srinagar 1 each.

Forecast valid until the morning of August 4: Rain or thundershowers will occur at many places in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, East Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal and at a few places in rest of the region.

Heavy rainfall warning: Heavy rain at isolated places is likely in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, East Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal during the next 48 hours.

Forecast for Delhi and neighbourhood (valid until the morning of August 4): Generally cloudy sky with a few spells of rain/thundershowers, one or two may be heavy in some areas.

Farmers’ weather bulletin for Delhi (forecast valid until the morning of August 4): Rain/thundershowers will occur at many places. Heavy rain is likely at isolated places during the next 48 hours.

Outlook for the subsequent two days: Rainfall activity is likely to continue.

Met says August will be wet
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 2
If you have some faith in the weather forecasts made by Met officials, then the latest forecast made by them is that August will be more wet than the July, which passed by almost as a dry month. Met officials had predicted normal monsoon in May-June, well before the beginning of the rainy season . However, they drew a lot of flak as their predictions in this regard went widely off the mark in vast parts of the country.

Widespread moderate to heavy rainfall in this region in the past 48 hours is not a freak development. It is monsoon now. Met officials confirm it. And they say that monsoon is going to stay in the region for quite some time. In fact, Met officials say that they have issued warning of heavy rainfall at some isolated places in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh in the next 24 hours.

In fact monsoon had arrived in this region on July 8. But it was too weak to deliver, asserts a senior official of the Met Department. “Let there be no doubt. It is a strong revival of the monsoon in the region now”, said the senior Met officer while talking to The Tribune this evening. The revival has occurred via Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Strong circular pressure built-up in the Arabian sea helped in the revival of the monsoon in this part of the country, claim Met officials.

Obviously, farmers, Agriculture Department and Punjab State Electricity Board officers are happy because of the revival of the monsoon. They prey that the rainfall should continue for some more days to whet the appetite of all concerned.

The PSEB today reduced power cuts in urban and rural areas and also to industry from which power was diverted to farming sector. However, PSEB continues to buy power from outside the state. Today’s purchase was in the range of 550 MW from national pool and other states.

Though drought-like conditions which persisted in this region for over a month have caused considerable damage to paddy and other kharif crops and also loss to the PSEB and the Punjab Government, which paid through their nose to buy power from other states, but the current spell of rains will certainly help in the recovery of the withering paddy and other crops. Livestock has also got a big relief because of the rains.

The Director, Agriculture, Punjab, Dr Ajmer Singh, says that because of the rainfall, farmers in Patiala, Amritsar and Gurdaspur will now be able to cover about 52,000 hectares of land under “ basmati”, for the transplantation of which it is a right time. Besides, in Kandi area, a good part of the barren land, which remained unsown in absence of rain, will now be covered under maize and other crops. He says that department was providing seed free of cost to farmers to cover left over or reploughed fields under moong.

He said that almost all districts have been covered by the rains in the past two days. Maximum rainfall has been recorded in Ropar belt. It is moderate to heavy rainfall in Jalandhar, Mansa, Bathinda, Nawanshahr and other parts of the state.

Met Officials have reported heavy rainfall in most parts of the Haryana especially Gurgaon, Faridabad areas. Almost the same has been reported from Himachal Pradesh.

When contacted, the PSEB Chairman, Mr Y.S. Ratra, said: “ certainly, rains have provided a big respite to his organisations, which remained on its toes for the past two months to provide power to farming community to save paddy and other crops”. He said that he would be meeting his senior officers tomorrow to re-assess the situation on power front in the light of good rainfall in the region. Yesterday, the demand for power was around 1175 MW. “ But it is far less today”, said Mr Ratra.