Mercury dips further, more respite in offing

Chandigarh got further respite from the intense heatwave conditions prevailing for the past one week with both the day and night temperatures dipping on Monday.

While the maximum temperature went down by only 0.3 degree in the past 24 hours for the consecutive second day to settle at 37.4° Celsius, the minimum (27.7° Celsius) dipped considerably by four notches on Sunday night after touching 32.7° Celsius, the season’s warmest night, on Saturday. The overcast sky and traces of rain coupled with moderate winds during the day gave some respite from the scorching heat.

The weathermen have predicted partly cloudy sky with light rain in the tricity over the next five days. However, a yellow alert was issued for Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana till June 22 with forecast of heavy rain at isolated places on Sunday. But, the maximum temperature will continue to gradually fall by 3-5 degrees over the next three days.

Ludhiana in Punjab and Sirsa in Haryana recorded the highest minimum temperature of 32 and 30.6° Celsius, respectively, to be the warmest towns in the region.

The residents heaved a sigh of relief for the second consecutive day on Monday after braving the severe heatwave conditions from June 8 to 14 with the mercury remaining below the 40°Celsius-mark. June 10 had recorded the maximum temperature of 44° Celsius, which had remained the season’s hottest day here so far.

According to the Meteorological Centre Chandigarh, the department’s observatory at Sector 39 here recorded the highest maximum temperature of 37.4° Celsius while another observatory at the Indian Air Force (IAF) airport logged 37.2° Celsius on Monday.

While Sirsa once again returned to become the hottest place in the region on Monday with the maximum of 38.4° Celsius, which was the highest in the region, Amritsar and Gurdaspur logged the maximum of 37.5° Celsius to stay the hottest towns in Punjab today.

The MeT Department has predicted a gradual fall in the maximum temperature till Saturday. It said the temperatures in Chandigarh, Mohali, and Panchkula will remain maximum between 33 and 36° Celsius and minimum between 26 and 27° Celsius with possibility of light rain till June 21.

Monday’s maximum day temperature in the city was 0.3 degree below yesterday’s mercury reading.

Chandigarh