Rains bring down mercury in north India

New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) Overnight rains in several partsof Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan brought mercury down by a fewnotches in the northern region with the national capitalrecording a low of 9.6 degree Celsius.

Early morning mist gave way to a bright sun in Delhiwhere the mercury slid below the normal range after heavyshowers last evening. The minimum temperature was a notchbelow normal and a degree less than yesterday''s minimum of10.3 degrees, the MeT office said.

Moderate to heavy rains also lashed many parts of Punjaband Haryana where cold conditions continued to prevail in someplaces. Rohtak, Narnaul, Bhiwani, Patiala and Amritsarwitnessed rains last evening.

Amritsar was the coldest place in the two statesregistering a minimum of 4 degree Celsius, which was threedegrees below normal level. Ludhiana also experienced a coldnight at 8.7 deg C while Patiala settled at 9.4 deg C, bothone degree below normal.

In Haryana, Rohtak recorded a low of 7.3 deg C, down twodegrees, while Karnal registered a minimum of 8.6 deg C, onebelow normal. Hisar and Bhiwani settled at a low of 8 degreeseach.

The minimum at Chandigarh rose slightly to settle at10.5 deg C, two degrees above normal.

In the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, minimumtemperatures remained two to five degrees below normal due toclear sky at night, even as day temperatures rose by a fewnotches in some areas.

Solan was coldest in the mid hills with a minimumtemperature of 1.7 degrees, while the state capital Shimlarecorded a low of 3.7 degrees. Sundernagar, Bhuntar andDharamsala recorded minimum temperatures of 3.5, 2.2 and 4.3degrees respectively.

Keylong in tribal Lahaul and Spiti district recorded alow of minus 12.5 deg C, five degrees below normal. Kalpa inKinnaur district witnessed 3 cm of snow.

The day temperature rose from 11.6 to 15.1 deg C inShimla while Sundernagar, Bhuntar and Solan recorded a high of23.1, 21.6 and 20.5 deg C respectively.

Rains revived cold conditions in parts of Rajasthanwhere Baswa recorded 18 mm of rainfall.

Hailstorm and thundershowers lashed Jaipur, Bikaner,Dausa, Tonk, Karauli and a few other places in the state lastnight. Alwar, Kathumar, Neemrana, Bayana, Alwar, Virat Nagar,Amber received 10 mm rainfall, while Dholpur and Sriganganagarreceived 5 mm each.