March 233% wetter; rain highest in 3 years in Chandigarh

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, March 31

The city saw 233% more rainfall than normal for the month of March, the highest in three years.

The precipitation that started late on Thursday and continued till Friday afternoon took the total rainfall for the month to 71.7 mm. In contrast, no rain was received in the month last year, while in 2021, only 6.2 mm rainfall was witnessed.

In 2020, 72.5 mm rainfall was recorded during March, slightly higher than this year’s precipitation. The previous high was in March 2015, when 119.9 mm rainfall was recorded.

Meteorological Department Director Manmohan Singh reasoned: “Western Disturbance remained very active. Though water recharge will improve and power usage will not be impacted much, crops have been damaged in the region.”

Wet weather to continue

Rain is expected to continue over the next few days. The city is likely to receive rain on Saturday, while sky is expected to be partly cloudy on Sunday. It will be rainy again on Monday and Tuesday, before the sky clears up on Wednesday.

Day temp drops 13.4 °C

The day’s temperature dropped 13.4 °C on Friday. The maximum temperature fell from 32.4 °C yesterday to 19 °C. It is also 13 degrees below normal. The minimum temperature was 16.9 °C, a notch above normal. The mercury is expected to rise in the coming days.