Record-Breaking Rains Lash Delhi

PTI PHOTO/ SHAHBAZ KHAN Record-Breaking Rains Lash Delhi

Moderate to heavy rains lashed north India today breaking a five-decade record in Delhi and disrupting normal life while a fresh bout of snowing in hill states cut off many high altitude areas.

Heavy showers accompanied by thunderstorms, which started last night in the national capital, broke all records for a single day's rainfall in the month of February for the last 50 years.

Waterlogging caused by heavy showers led to traffic snarls across the city with the MeT department predicting more rains in the coming two days in Delhi.

The city had received 50mm rain by 10 A.M. Today and MeT Director BP Yadav told PTIthat it was, "the highest rainfall in 24 hours (recorded) in the month of February over the last 50 years".

The minimum temperature was recorded at 13.5 degrees, five notches above normal while the maximum was at 18.6 degrees, which was four degrees below normal.

Rains also lashed Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh as well as hill states of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, which received snowfall in the higher reaches.

It was a wet day in Kashmir as well as rains continued to lash Srinagar and other parts of the Valley along with snowfall at several places for the second day running.

Night temperatures across the Valley dipped further with Srinagar recording a low of 1.6 degrees Celsius as against the previous night's 2.2 degrees. The summer capital received 12mm rainfall during the night.

Gulmarg got a foot of fresh snowfall as well as 17mm rainfall and recorded a low of -5 degrees Celsius, same as the previous night.

In Himachal Pradesh, the higher reaches continued to receive heavy snowfall while the middle and lower hills were lashed by intermittent heavy rain and sleet accompanied by icy, strong velocity winds.

The heavy snowfall aggravated the avalanche threat and people in the high-altitude areas have been advised to stay indoors till the weather improved.

The rain and sleet, on the other hand, triggered numerous landslides which rendered several interior areas cut off from the rest of the state.

Road access to the tourist resort of Manali, too, was blocked after it received 60cm snow in the last 48 hours while traffic was curtailed on the Hindustan-Tibet National Highway.

Uttarakhand, too, was in for inclement weather as widespread showers in the plains and heavy snowfall in the higher reaches for the second consecutive day pushed down temperatures in the state.

Tehri received the highest rainfall in the state of 61.8mm followed by Dehradun and Mussoorie which recorded 43.2mm and 30mm, respectively.

Mukteshwar shivered at 1.2 degrees Celsius and the MeT office predicted similar weather conditions over the coming days, adding that temperatures could see a further drop of 4-5 degrees.

In the plains, moderate to heavy rainfall was reported in many places in western Uttar Pradesh and some places in the eastern districts with Muzaffarnagar recording 12cm rainfall followed by 7cm each in Bijnore, Hamirpur and Unnao.

Several places in Punjab and Haryana, too, complained of waterlogging and traffic snarls after being lashed by rains while minimum temperatures rose by up to eight notches above normal across both states.

Chandigarh received rainfall of 11.5mm and recorded a minimum of 13.1 degrees Celsius, which was up six notches from the normal.

Rajasthan, too, reported overnight showers with Pilani receiving 15.