By IANS,
Chandigarh : Moderate rainfall Monday in Chandigarh and parts of Punjab and Haryana brought much needed respite from the scorching heat and made the weather pleasant as the temperature fell by two to four degrees, a met official here said.
“This rainfall has lowered down the temperature in Chandigarh and in most parts of Punjab and Haryana by two to fours degrees Celsius. We are expecting overcast conditions to prevail in this region that will be followed by rainfall by this evening or during the night,” Chandigarh meteorological centre director Surinder Paul told IANS.
Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, registered a minimum temperature of 23.4 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal. Rainfall was recorded at 9.4 mm during the wee hours.
Amritsar city in Punjab recorded minimum temperature of 22.4 degrees Celsius, four degrees below normal, and experienced rainfall of 9.5 mm. Patiala and Ludhiana cities recorded a minimum temperature of 26.2 and 26.7 degrees respectively.
Temperatures in the Sikh holy city, home to the Golden Temple, had touched almost 45 degrees Celsius earlier this month.
However, met officials said these were not pre-monsoon showers. Also, they were not sure when the monsoon would arrive in the region.
“We cannot say that these showers were due to pre-monsoon clouds, but yes it is an indication of approaching monsoon season. We are monitoring the situation and within a couple of days we will be in a position to declare the date on which we are actually expecting monsoon,” Paul said.
In Haryana, Ambala city recorded 22.3 degrees, four degrees below normal, and saw a rainfall of 11.8 mm. Hisar and Karnal cities recorded minimum temperature of 29.4 and 25 degrees respectively.