Rains in parts of north; mercury shows upward trend in Pb, Har

Monsoon weakened in Punjab and Haryana leading to rise in temperature, even as showers lashed the national capital and other parts of north India today bringing respite from heat.
In the national capital, people rejoiced as widespread showers lashed the city bringing down temperature. The rain gauge at the Safdurjung observatory measured 37.6 mm of rains from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm today, a MeT official said.
Humidity, however, continued to be on the higher side and was recorded between 92 and 59 per cent during the day.
The maximum temperature settled at 35.3 degrees Celsius, down by over two points from yesterday's 37.7. The minimum was recorded at 29.1 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal.

The rains caused water-logging in several areas of Delhi leading to traffic snarls at major intersections.
Light to moderate rains also occurred in many areas of Uttar Pradesh. According to the Lucknow MeT office, Moradabad district recorded 6-cm of rains since last evening, followed by Hamirpur, Orai and Allahabad 4-cm each.

The MeT office said Barra, Chayal, Safipur, Lalitpur and Purwa received 3-cm of rainfall each. Among other areas that received rains included Chatnag, Karchana, Naraini, Ghatampur, Ankinghat, Rae Bareli, Rajghat, Jalaun, Mahoba and Sharanpur.
In Rajasthan too, rain occurred at a few places across the state. Udaipurwati recorded 8-cm rainfall since yesterday evening, said a MeT official in Jaipur. Khandela, Hindoli and Rishabhdev recorded 7-cm rainfall each, whereas other places in the state received rains measuring less than 6-cm.

In Punjab and Haryana, the maximum temperatures, however, hovered above normal level due to weakening of monsoon over the region in the past couple of days.
The Union Territory of Chandigarh recorded a high of 36.5 degrees, up by four notches. Haryana's Bhiwani recorded a hot day at 37.6 degrees Celsius. In Punjab, Amritsar recorded a high of 35.8 degrees, while Ludhiana's maximum settled at 35.6. Patiala recorded a high of 37.2 degrees Celsius.
Some parts of Himachal Pradesh received scattered rains as monsoon remained weak over the state. Barring Dharamsala where the rain gauge measured 41-mm, rainfall was light to moderate at some other places.