Rain brings mercury down in Punjab, Haryana

Light to moderate rain today brought much needed respite to people from scorching heat at several places in Punjab and Haryana, bringing down the maximum temperature by up to six degrees below normal.
Chandigarh today witnessed rainfall of 14.7 mm and recorded maximum of 33.1 deg C, six degrees below normal, a Met department office said here today.
Residents experienced heavy rainfall along with high speed winds for a brief period during the day, which caused temperature dipping down sharply, the official said.
However, minimum temperature of Chandigarh hovered around 26.3 deg C.
Ludhiana and Patiala recorded a high of 35.6 and 35.5 deg C respectively, dipping by three degrees below normal. Ludhiana received rainfall of 2 mm.

However, temperature remained hight in Amritsar at 40.4 deg C, up by two degrees.

In Haryana, Ambala witnessed rainfall of 2 mm, while the maximum temperature was at 35.7 deg C, down by two degrees.
Mercury also fell in Hisar and Karnal by three notches each as these districts recorded temperature at 37 deg C and 35.2 deg C respectively.
Bhiwani and Narnaul had a maximum of 37 deg C and 41.1 deg C respectively.
Punjab and Haryana have been reeling under severe hot conditions for the past several days as mercury had been hovering around 40-42 degrees in most of places.

The Met department in its forecast said, light rain or thundershowers may occur at isolated placed in Punjab and Haryana in next 48 hours.