At 32.7°C, Chandigarh braves season’s warmest night
Chandigarh braved the season’s warmest night on Thursday with the minimum temperature touching the all-time high of 32.7° Celsius, which was the third highest reading in the region, comprising Punjab and Haryana.
Sirsa and Bhiwani in Haryana recorded the warmest Thursday night in the region with the mercury soaring to 34.2 and 33.5° Celsius, respectively.
None of the other 58 weather stations of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) spread across Punjab (26) and Haryana (32 of the total 34) recorded the minimum temperature on Thursday night as high as 33.5 (Sirsa), 33.2 (Rohtak) and 32.7 degree Celsius, which the department’s observatory at Sector 39 here recorded.
The minimum temperature in Chandigarh on Thursday night shot up to 32.7° Celsius, which was 0.9 degree more than Wednesday night’s minimum reading of 31.8° Celsius and above normal by 6.4 degrees.
According to the IMD, the maximum temperature touching 40° Celsius and minimum temperature departure remaining between 4.5 and 6.4 degrees leads to warm nights. The severe warm nights are witnessed when minimum temperature departure goes past 6.4 degrees, which Chandigarh recorded on Thursday night.
Even as the maximum day temperature on Friday dipped by 2.1 degrees as compared to Thursday, the severe heatwave continued to sweep the tricity region, comprising Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula, forcing the residents to stay indoors, especially during the peak afternoon hours.
It was the sixth consecutive day on Friday when the local residents braved the scorching sun with the mercury hovering over the 40° Celsius-mark.
Tuesday had recorded the maximum temperature of 44° Celsius, which had remained the season’s hottest day here so far.
With the weathermen already issuing a red alert for severe heatwave at many places and warm nights in Chandigarh and at isolated places in Punjab and Haryana till Friday, the severe heatwave today observed in Sirsa. Bathinda and Ludhiana in the region witnessed the regular heatwave.
Besides Chandigarh, the warm nights were also recorded in Ambala, Rohtak, Narnaul, Bathinda, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala in the region.
The IMD has predicted no immediate relief from the intense heatwave conditions till next week.
The weathermen also re-issued orange alert for heatwave coupled with thunderstorm, lightning and gusty winds at 40-50 kmph speed at isolated places in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana on Saturday, and yellow alert for at isolated places in the region on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
According to the Meteorological Centre here, the department’s observatory at Sector 39 recorded the highest maximum temperature of 39.6° Celsius while another observatory at the Indian Air Force (IAF) airport logged 39.2° Celsius on Friday.
While Sirsa continued to remain the hottest place in the region for the third consecutive day today with the maximum of 47.6° Celsius, which was the highest in the region, Bathinda logged the maximum of 46° Celsius to stay the hottest town in Punjab on Friday as well.
Pathankot in Punjab and Panipat in Haryana experienced the coolest night in the region on Thursday with a minimum temperature of 28.3 and 29.2° Celsius, respectively.
The MeT department has predicted no major change in the maximum temperature for the next few days in the region with warm night conditions likely to continue till Saturday.
It said the maximum temperature in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula will remain between 40 and 42° Celsius and minimum between 30 and 32° Celsius, with no possibility of rain for the next five days.
Friday’s maximum day temperature in the city was 2.1 degree below yesterday’s mercury reading and above normal by 1 degree.
“Maximum temperatures will remain between 46 and 48° Celsius over southern and south-western parts of Punjab and Haryana, leading to severe heatwave conditions in the region till June 14,” the IMD said, while predicting respite from the scorching heatwave after June 14 when mercury will fall by 2-4 degrees.
“In view of the heatwave and warm night conditions during the next few days, all are advised to take adequate precautions,” the weathermen said.
HEATWAVE EFFECT
The heatwave effect was evident at the major tourist spots like Sukhna Lake, Rock Garden, Rose Garden and shopping such as Sector 17, Elante, CP-67 and VR Punjab malls in the tricity, which wore almost a deserted look in the afternoon. The traffic on the roads also remained considerably low during the day.
Chandigarh