Record rainfall in Delhi as skies open up across north India

Heavy showers accompanied by thunderstorms, which started last night in the national capital, broke all records for a single day's rainfall in the month of February for the last 50 years.

Waterlogging caused by heavy showers led to traffic snarls across the city with the MeT department predicting more rains in the coming two days in Delhi.

The city had received 50mm rain by 10 A.M. Today and MeT Director BP Yadav told PTI that it was, "the highest rainfall in 24 hours (recorded) in the month of February over the last 50 years".

The minimum temperature was recorded at 13.5 degrees, five notches above normal while the maximum was at 18.6 degrees, which was four degrees below normal.

Rains also lashed Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh as well as hill states of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, which received snowfall in the higher reaches.

It was a wet day in Kashmir as well as rains continued to lash Srinagar and other parts of the Valley along with snowfall at several places for the second day running.

Night temperatures across the Valley dipped further with Srinagar recording a low of 1.6 degrees Celsius as against the previous night's 2.2 degrees. The summer capital received 12mm rainfall during the night.

Gulmarg got a foot of fresh snowfall as well as 17mm rainfall and recorded a low of -5 degrees Celsius, same as the previous night.

In Himachal Pradesh, the higher reaches continued to receive heavy snowfall while the middle and lower hills were lashed by intermittent heavy rain and sleet accompanied by icy, strong velocity winds.

The heavy snowfall aggravated the avalanche threat and people in the high-altitude areas have been advised to stay indoors till the weather improved.

The rain and sleet, on the other hand, triggered numerous landslides which rendered several interior areas cut off from the rest of the state.

Road access to the tourist resort of Manali, too, was blocked after it received 60cm snow in the last 48 hours while traffic was curtailed on the Hindustan-Tibet National Highway.

MORE