Bathinda: Aided by recent widespread rainfall, Punjab and Haryana recorded excess rainfall again on Wednesday. Till 8.30am, Punjab had recorded 386% excess rainfall, as it received 6.8mm rain against a normal of 1.4mm. Haryana recorded 341% excess rain, as it received 4.4mm rain against a normal of 1mm. As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), another western disturbance is likely to affect northwest India from the night of Jan 30. Under its influence, scattered to fairly widespread rainfall/snowfall with thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds, with speeds reaching 30-40 kmph, is likely over the Western Himalayan region and adjoining plains of northwest India on Feb 1. Isolated heavy rainfall/snowfall is likely over Himachal Pradesh on Feb 1.Meanwhile, dense fog prevailed in isolated pockets of Punjab and Haryana. Visibility of less than 50m was reported in Bathinda, 150m in Faridkot, 190m in Ludhiana, 40m in Chandigarh, and 50m in Haryana’s Narnaul. Isolated hailstorm activity was recorded over both states. In Punjab, Amritsar was the coldest, with a minimum temperature of 3.7°C. In Haryana, Bhiwani had the lowest minimum temperature was 5.5°C. As per the IMD, dense fog conditions are likely during night-time hours over Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh till Jan 31. Cold wave conditions are likely in isolated pockets from Jan 29-31.
