Rains lash Punjab, Haryana

Rains lashed vast swathes of Punjab and Haryana for the second day today even as minimum temperature hovered above normal in the region. Chandigarh witnessed an overcast sky and the city received 7 mm of rains last night with the minimum temperature settling at 11.4 degrees C, two notches above the normal, a MeT official here said. As the wet spell continued in the region, which the MeT here attributed to a Western Disturbance (WD) that lay over Jammu and Kashmir and neighbourhood, most places in Haryana were lashed by rains. Panchkula, Kalka, Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Sonepat, Faridabad, Bhiwani, Narnaul and Panipat were among other places in Haryana to be lashed by rains. Ambala recorded a minimum temperature of 11 degrees C, two notches above the normal. Hisar's low settled at 12.2 degrees C, also up by two degrees while Narnaul's minimum was recorded at 12 degrees C, three notches above normal. Bhiwani registered a low of 11.6 degrees C. In Punjab, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala were lashed by heavy rains while moderate rains also lashed Mukerian, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot, Madhopur, Shahpur Kandi belt, Phagwara and Mohali. The minimum temperature at Amritsar settled at 10.2 degrees C, three degrees up while Ludhiana recorded a low of 11.6 degrees C, two notches above the normal. Patiala registered a low of 11.5 degrees C, one degree above normal.