Chandigarh, February 3
Rain brought relief to the farmers of Punjab and Haryana as the night temperature in the Northwest plains rose, whereas Himachal Pradesh received another spell of snowfall causing both the maximum and minimum temperatures to plummet.
The Met office here reported light to moderate showers in all parts of Punjab and Haryana, where ground frost had played havoc with the crops, particularly vegetables and sugarcane. The rain which is expected to lift the ground frost is considered beneficial for wheat, the main crop of the region.
However, despite a rise in night temperature, the minimum in most parts of Punjab and Chandigarh remained two to five degrees celsius below normal, while in Haryana, these were above normal barring in Ambala.
Amritsar recorded 7.6 mm rain till 2 pm today, which was the maximum in the Northwest plains. However, the night temperature, which went up by two degrees and was recorded at 3.2 degrees, was still two degrees below normal in the Holy City.
Patiala, which received 1.4 mm rain turned out to be the coldest place in the
region recording 2.5 degrees, five degrees below normal while the minimum in Ludhiana, which received 1.6 mm rain rose sharply to 7.3 degrees from sub-zero recorded yesterday.
The minimum in Adampur also rose to 3.0 degrees after remaining below zero for four successive nights.
In Haryana, Ambala, which received 0.6 mm rain, was the coldest place at 4.4 degrees, four degrees below normal. The minimum in Hisar which received 1.8 mm rain was at 6.8 degrees while Bhiwani received 1.2 mm rain till 2 pm today.
The minimum in Karnal and Narnaul was recorded at 9.6 degrees and 8.0 degrees respectively, two degrees above normal. The two places also had traces of rain this morning. The night temperature in Chandigarh also showed a marginal increase and was recorded at 4.0 degrees, still three degrees below normal. The city received 0.8 mm rain till 2 pm.
Meanwhile, Shimla town and its adjoining areas experienced fresh spell of heavy snowfall today, the third in less than 10 days, while heavy rains lashed the lower areas of Himachal Pradesh, plummeting day and night temperatures. This was the heaviest snowfall of the season.
While Shimla town was under 12 to 14 cm snow, Jakhoo, Kufri and Fagu had received 20 to 30 cm of snow till 1 pm. The snowfall left a large number of vehicles, including buses, stranded near Kufri, Dhalli and some spots on the Indo-Tibet National Highway. Manali and its surrounding areas recorded about 25-27 cm snowfall, while, Solang Nullah recorded 30 cm, Dhundi 27 cm and Bhang about 25 cm of fresh snowfall since this morning. The met office said the Rohtang Pass recorded about 80 to 100 cm snowfall.
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh continued to reel under intense cold, following four more deaths across the state overnight.
The state is in the jaws of spine-chilling cold since the past few days due to rain in the upper reaches of Uttarakhand.
The fresh casualties were reported from Sonebhadra and Siddharthnagar districts. In the last 24 hours, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Faizabad and Meerut divisions recorded a dip in night temperature. However, minimum temperature rose slightly at some places due to the presence of clouds.
— UNI
