The first major monsoon rain of the season lashed large parts of Haryana and Punjab brought much-needed relief to the farmers in the food bowl of the country.
After its arrival over a fortnight back in the two States, the annual weather system had turned weak with hardly any rain lashing the region.According to the MeT Dept here, the monsoon has now turned active in the region bringing moderate to heavy rain in most places with forecast of more rainfall over the next couple of days.
The heavy rain will not only bring smiles on the farmers' faces in the sowing season but will ease the power situation which deteriorated in the wake of a sudden increase in its demand, agri experts and power officials said.According to the traders, price of vegetables which had escalated owing to poor rains and short supply are also likely to stabilise in the days to come.
In the joint Capital of the two States, Chandigarh, it has been raining since Thursday and the city received nearly 50 mm of rainfall till Friday evening.Several places in Haryana, the National Capital Region (NCR) in particular, received abundant rainfall, according to the MeT Department here.
Faridabad was pounded by 100 mm of rains, Gurgaon received 70 mm of rain, Ballabgarh got 105 mm, Pataudi 75 mm, Dadri 55 mm, Sohna 47 mm, Bahadurgarh 47 mm, Jhajjar 125 mm, Mahendergarh 45 mm, Nuh in Mewat 95 mm, Hodal in Pawlal 41 mm and Bawal in Rewari got 71 mm of showers.Among other places in Haryana which were lashed by rains included Yamunanagar 75 mm, Chhachrauli 88 mm, Jagadhri 78 mm, Panipat 60 mm, Panchkula 76 mm, Kalka 30 mm, Ambala 15.7 mm, Hisar 3.7 mm, Karnal 2.6 mm, Bhiwani 10.2 mm while Narnaul got 22 mm of rains since Thursday.
In Punjab, Amritsar received a heavy downpour at 58.8 mm, ludhiana got 1 mm, Patiala 2.7 mm, Mohali 15 mm, Nangal Dam 38.8 mm, Sirhind 51 mm, Garhshankar 15 mm, Kapurthala 32.5 mm, Phagwara 32 mm, Moga 40 mm, Nawanshahr 105 mm, Rajpura 92 mm and Derabassi got 20 mm of rain.The temperature too plunged a few notches in the region due to the rainfall. Chandigarh on Friday recorded a maximum temperature of 29.5 degrees Celsius, five degrees below normal while a minimum temperature of 24.8 degrees was recorded.
In Haryana, Ambala recorded maximum temperature of 30.5 degrees Celsius, Bhiwani 33.2 degrees Celsius, Karnal 30.8 degrees Celsius, Amritsar 34.8 degrees, ludhiana 31.6 degrees Celsius and Patiala saw a maximum of 30.6 degrees Celsius.The minimum temperature levels also plunged upto two three below normal on Friday in several parts of Punjab and Haryana. Ambala recorded a minimum temperature 24.5 degrees Celsius, Hissar 25.1 degrees Celsius, Karnal 25.4 degrees, Narnaul 22.9 degrees Celsius, Amritsar 22.9 degrees, ludhiana 26 degrees and Patiala settled at 26.3 degrees Celsius.