Last day of January brings reprieve in Punjab, more rain expected in February

CHANDIGARH: After facing a dry weather all through January, Punjab received light rain on the last day of the month with the weather office warning of strong chilly winds sweeping the region along with some more rain over the next few days.

Rainfall in February as well as minimum and maximum temperatures, however, is expected to be normal to above normal over most parts of northwest India, according to the weatherman.

“Light rain occurred at many places in the state. Dense to very dense fog was also reported from a few places,” a bulletin issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday said.

Till Wednesday morning, the amount of rainfall in the state ranged from 0.2 mm to 3.0 mm, with Ludhiana being the wettest followed by Moga with 2.5 mm and Bathinda with 2 mm. Some districts, however, did not receive any rain during the past 24 hours. At a few places, visibility was close to zero due to foggy conditions.

From January 1 to 30, the state had remained totally dry whereas the normal rainfall for this period is 19.1 mm. Even in December 2023, the rainfall was deficient by 70 per cent, according to the IMD data. Last month, the state had received 3.3 mm rain compared to the normal of 10.9 mm.

The day temperature during the past 24 hours ranged from 17.8 degrees Celsius at Faridkot to 21.4 degrees Celsius at Pathankot, which were largely normal. Night temperatures were in the range of 7 degrees Celsius in Bathinda to 12.8 degrees Celsius in Ludhiana, which were above normal in a few places by up to 6.8 degrees.

Two western disturbances in quick succession are likely to affect the Northwest during the next five days. Under the influence of these systems, light to moderate rain is very likely over Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana, on February 1. Thunderstorms and lightning along with strong and chilly surface winds of the order of 30-40 kmph are also expected, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Light isolated rainfall and isolated hailstorm is also very likely over Punjab, while light to moderate fairly widespread to widespread rainfall and snowfall is expected over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand during the next five days.