Monsoon hits region, to lash Chandigarh tricity in next 5 days

The south-west monsoon finally arrived in the region (Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh) on Sunday with Ludhiana and Amritsar recording 49 and 39 mm rainfall, respectively. The weathermen have predicted partly cloudy sky with thunderstorm and rain in the tricity over the next five days.

“South-west monsoon has advanced over some northern parts of Punjab,” confirmed the India Meteorological Department (IMD). It said the conditions are favourable for further advance of south-west monsoon over Chandigarh, some more parts of Punjab and Haryana in the next two days.

The Weather Department has predicted light to moderate rain at most places in Chandigarh and Haryana on June 25 and 26.

Similarly, light to moderate rain is likely at many places on June 23, 27 and 28, at a few places on June 24 and at most places on June 25 and 26 in Punjab.

The weathermen said the rain spell is likely to be accompanied with thunderstorm/lightning at isolated places over Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana till June 28.

“Heavy rainfall is very likely at isolated places till June 26 over Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana with very heavy rainfall at isolated places on June 25,” said the IMD.

Meanwhile, the maximum temperature in Chandigarh once again dipped slightly while the minimum reading recorded a minor rise in the past 24 hours.

While the overcast sky and moderate winds brought some relief from the searing heat, the relative humidity irked the residents in the tricity.

The weathermen have issued an orange alert for heavy to very heavy rain with thunderstorm/ lightning at isolated places in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana on Wednesday and yellow alert on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

On Sunday, the maximum temperature went down by 2.3 notches after rising by 2.1 degrees on Saturday. The minimum temperature rose by 0.1 degree in the past 24 hours after going up by 1.1 degree on Friday night. While Chandigarh and Mohali remained dry, Panchkula received 1 mm rainfall today.

The maximum temperature will continue to remain below 34° Celsius for the next five days.

The local residents experienced a warm night on Saturday with the city logging the minimum temperature of 27.8° Celsius.

Faridkot in Punjab and Sirsa in Haryana recorded the highest minimum temperature of 30.4 and 31° Celsius, respectively.

June 10 had recorded the maximum temperature of 44° Celsius, which had remained the season’s hottest day here so far.

According to the Meteorological Centre here, its observatory at Sector 39 recorded the maximum temperature of 34° Celsius while the one at the Indian Air Force (IAF) airport logged 33.2° Celsius on Sunday. The maximum day temperature in the city was 2.3 notches below yesterday’s mercury reading.

While Sirsa remained the hottest place in the region on Sunday as well with the maximum temperature of 42° Celsius, Bathinda logged 39° Celsius to stay the hottest town in Punjab.

Ambala in Haryana and Gurdaspur in Punjab experienced the least warm night in the region on Saturday with the lowest minimum temperature of 26 and 26.5° Celsius, respectively.

“As compared to yesterday, there was a fall of 1 degree and 0.7 degree in the average maximum temperature, with the mercury remaining below normal by 3.6 degrees and 3.3 degrees in Haryana and Punjab, respectively, on Sunday,” said the IMD, while confirming light to moderate rain coupled with thunderstorm at isolated places in Punjab and Haryana.

The MeT Department has predicted no major change in the maximum temperature for the next three days in the region.

It said the temperatures in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula will remain maximum between 29 and 34° Celsius and minimum between 25 and 27° Celsius till June 27.