Rising mercury trend leads to abnormal hot weather

New Delhi, Jan 30 (UNI) With mercury shooting up over the past few days, the weather has become abnormally hot in several parts of the country.

The Capital today recorded the minimum temperature of 14.3 degrees Celsius, six degrees above normal. The cloudcover over the city skyline led to a rise in temperature from 12.3 degrees yesterday.

The clouds, that had built up last evening, had resulted in light rains, bringing down the night temperature. The city recorded 2 mm of rainfall till 0830 hrs this morning.

The temperature continued its upward trend in the entire north-west region of the country though light rains in many parts of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, broke a long dry spell in the region.

The sky remained overcast at many places as the Sun played hide and seek during the day, giving little warmth to the people. However, the minimum temperatures hovered two to ten degrees above normal in the region.

Rain lashed some areas of Punjab with Patiala, where the the minimum temperature rose to 13.8 degrees, five degrees above normal, recording 4.7 mm rainfall. Ludhiana measured 3.8 mm rain and the minimum temperatures at 10.9 degrees, which was six degrees above normal.

The temperature, however, remained almost static at Amritsar showing 7.4 degrees against 7.3 degrees registered yesterday.

Karnal with 5.2 mm rain was the wettest place in Haryana. Ambala too had rainfall. Both the towns registered six degrees above normal temperature, respectively recording 13.5 degrees and 12.0 degrees celsius. The mercury also soared at Hisar recording 14.2 degrees which was ten degrees above normal.

Parts of Himachal Pradesh experienced cloudy weather and the night temperatures remained almost unchanged in the hilly state.

The night temperature further rose in Chandigarh with its adjoining areas experiencing brief showers during the day.

The weather remained partly cloudy in the city which recorded the minimum at 13.2 degrees, five degrees above normal.

Meanwhile, rain or thundershowers are likely to occur at a few places in Haryana, Punjab, Lakshadweep and at isolated places in Assam and Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, west Uttar Pradesh, south Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chattisgarh, Konkan and Goa, madhya Maharashtra, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Telanagana, Tamil Nadu, coastal Karnataka, Kerala, Andman and Nicobar Islands.

The mercury was above normal in some parts of Assam and Meghalaya, Orissa, Jharkhand, Rayalseema, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

In Rajasthan, warm weather prevailed despite a light rain last night at some places. The weather is expected to remain dry for the next twenty four hours in the state.

UNI