Brace for downpour today, MeT issues yellow alert

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert for heavy rain coupled with thunderstorm and lightning at isolated places in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana on Monday.

Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula experienced light to medium rainfall on Sunday, which dipped the mercury during the day by up to 5.9 degrees. Panchkula recorded the lowest minimum temperature in Haryana and the tricity region.

While Chandigarh got 2.4-mm rainfall, Mohali and Panchkula experienced a trace of 0.5-mm showers on Sunday.

The continuous rainfall further deteriorated the bad condition of roads in the tricity region with potholes getting wider and deeper, posing danger to commuters and leading to mishaps.

Several roads and low-lying areas continued to witness waterlogging, which caused traffic bottlenecks and chaos, particularly in the Zirakpur and Baltana areas.

Chandigarh recorded the maximum temperature of 28.8°C and the minimum of 26.4°C, which was 4.7 degrees below and 0.6 degree above yesterday’s reading, respectively. Mohali measured 28.9°C and 26.5°C maximum and minimum temperatures, while Panchkula remained the coolest with 27.2°C and 25.2°C day and night temperatures, respectively. The relative humidity in Chandigarh remained 92%.

The IMD has predicted partly cloudy conditions with thunderstorms and rain in the tricity region for the next five days (till August 22), with the maximum and minimum temperatures likely to remain between 30°C and 25°C.

“As compared to Saturday, there was a fall of 2.1 and 1.9 degrees in the average maximum temperature, which was below normal by 1.8 and 3.2 degrees in Punjab and Haryana, respectively, on Sunday,” revealed the IMD, while observing the region’s highest maximum temperature of 35.4°C at Bathinda in Punjab followed by 34°C at Sirsa in Haryana.