Monsoon continues to play truant in plains

Chandigarh, July 19 (UNI) Monsoon continued to play truant in the plains of Punjab and Haryana and sultry weather conditions prevailed at most places in the region today.

However, parts of Himachal Pradesh experienced light to moderate rain since last night, dipping the temperatures in the state.

Barring few areas in Punjab, a dry spell continued in the plains as monsoon remained subdued in the area, leading to hot and humid weather conditions.

In Punjab, Pati recorded 12.2 mm rain fall while Madhopur, near Pathankot, received 1.0 mm, Shahpur Kandi 2.0 mm and Amritsar 0.2 mm rainfall till 0830 hrs today.

Parts of Himachal Pradesh, including mid and lower hills, also had downpour overnight. Shimla and its surrounding areas were lashed by moderate to heavy rainfall, triggering fresh landslides in the upper areas of the district. Tourist places of wildflower Hall, Kufri, Naldehra and Narkanda also experienced rainfall.

The capital town recorded 46.8 mm rain fall till this morning, followed by Naudan 20 mm, Mandi 20.9 mm, Rampur 10.6 mm and Pandoh and Kalpa three mm each.

However, lull continued in the rainfall activity in Haryana with no report of rain received from anywhere in the state. Humid weather conditions prevailed in Chandigarh which experienced showers for a brief period this evening.

Western disturbances lay over north Pakistan and adjoining Jammu and Kashmir as an upper air system, according to the Weather Office here. Upper air cyclonic circulation lay over south-west Uttar Pradesh and neighbourhood, extending up to 4.5 km above sea level.

Another upper air cyclonic circulation lay over central Pakistan and adjoining north-west Rajasthan and south-west Punjab, extending upto 2.1 km above sea level.

The Met Office predicted moderate to heavy rain or thundershowers at many places in the region during the next 24 hours.

UNI VKJ PK ND1800