Mercury plunges as rain lashes Chandigarh Tricity

Rain again lashed the Chandigarh Tricity on Tuesday, dragging temperatures down sharply. Moderate showers, caused by fresh western disturbance, turned into heavy rain after 8 pm in several parts of the city. Scattered rain is expected in the region on Wednesday.

Even as Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula woke up to a partly cloudy sky with shallow fog and the sun playing hide and seek, light to moderate rain set in around 9.30 am.

Chandigarh recorded 40 mm rainfall till 8.30 pm, making it the wettest city in the region. Power supply was disrupted in many areas after 6 pm, with large parts of Mohali remaining without electricity till the filing of this report.

The evening spell turned noisy and biting, with loud thunderclaps and chilly winds further intensifying cold wave conditions across the region.

Chandigarh’s maximum temperature plunged by 5.4 degrees to settle at 15.5 degrees Celsius, slipping to 3.9 degrees below normal. The minimum temperature, however, rose sharply by 3.9 degrees to 10.1 degrees Celsius, standing 2.3 degrees above normal. Seasonal rainfall in the city stood at 64.6 mm, around 54 per cent above normal.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert for cold wave and dense fog at isolated places over the next three days. Scattered showers are likely at isolated places on Wednesday, while Thursday and Friday are expected to remain largely dry. A yellow alert has again been issued for Sunday, when fairly widespread light to moderate rain accompanied by thunderstorm, lightning and gusty winds of 30-40 kmph is expected. There is also a possibility of isolated showers on Saturday and Monday.

Minimum temperatures are likely to fall by 3 to 5 degrees over the next two days, after which no major change is expected. For the next five days, the Tricity is likely to see maximum temperatures ranging between 16 and 22 degrees Celsius and minimums between 8 and 10 degrees.

Chaos on Chandigarh roads

Traffic chaos was witnessed at almost all roundabouts in Chandigarh in the evening as roads remained waterlogged. Rajesh, a resident of Mohali, said it took him an hour to reach home from Sector 17 in Chandigarh.

Amarnath, a resident of Sector 46, said the roads in his area were in a pathetic condition that worsened with each spell of rain.

All Chandigarh-Srinagar flights cancelled

Mohali: Owing to bad weather in Srinagar, the arrival and departure of Chandigarh-Srinagar flights were cancelled at Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport here on Tuesday. The arrival and departure of the Leh flights

were delayed by about two hours. The Dharamshala flight was rescheduled from 2:10 pm to 4:25 pm.—TNS