Mid-day darkness in Chandigarh. Snowfall in higher reaches of HP and J&K, heavy rains in region.High-velocity winds and hailstorms heralding the arrival of an early winter.
North India was taken by surprise as dust storm and thunder showers lashed several parts of the region on Friday.
Punjab/Delhi:
Hailstorm and rain several places in Punjab dropped temperatures sharply by 4c-6c in the state and adjoining Haryana.Temperatures had remained in the normal to above range for the better part of October.
At Ambala in Haryana, the minimum temperature dipped by 18.6c from yesterday’s 21.8c, in Amritsar to 15c and Patiala to 20c.
Dust storm and rain also hit the national capital Delhi bringing down the temperature from 32c to 22c in 30 mins.
H.P:
Rain and snowfall in Himachal Pradesh brought down the temperatures on Saturday.
Kalpa recorded a low of -0.5c. It was the coldest place in the state, while Simla was at 5.6c on Saturday against Friday's 11.3c.
Kalpa and Keylong saw 12.7 cm and 18 cm of snowfall, respectively, by Saturday morning. Shimla recorded 19.1 mm rainfall since Friday.
Manali experienced the season's first snowfall Friday evening. Manali recorded five centimetres of snow, while the Rohtang Pass, 52 km from Manali, experienced 65-cm snowfall.
The Dhauladhar hills overlooking Kangra valley wore a white mantle of snow, as they received first snowfall of the region.
Kashmir, receives first snowfall of the season a month early.
The change in the weather heralded a switch to the winter mode in Kashmir.
An October snowfall is a rarity in Kashmir.
The higher reaches of the Kashmir region were covered in a blanket of white a month ahead of schedule as the region experienced its first snowfall of the season. The rest of the Kashmir Valley and other parts of Jammu received heavy rains.
Gulmarg, Kokernag, Qazigund, Kulgam, Pahalgam, Anantnag and Shopian were among the areas that were the early recipients of snowfall. Kokernag received the highest rainfall at 46.6 mm while Pahalgam and Qazigund received 38.2 mm of rainfall each.
With the snowfall, the temperature in Srinagar came down from 10c a day ago, to 3.6c Friday morning.
In Kargil district of the Ladakh region, it had been snowing at Zanaskar, Rangdum, Panikhar, Drass, Meenamarg.
Now, with the passing of the W.D.I expect the Northern region experience a drop in minimum temperatures. The violent storms in the plains and hills were the result of cold air advancing from the west, and in a very short period of time, pushing up the existing warm air. Resulting in huge cumulonimbus clouds. This is typical of a cold front, and which is always followed by a drop in temperatures.
Next 2/3 nights, I expect the nights to drop to 13-15c in Punjab (from the current 21c), 17c in Delhi (23c currently), 17-18c in Rajasthan (23c) and to 18-19c in Gujarat (23-24c). A fall to 17/18c could be felt in Pune, Aurangabad and Nasik in Mah.during the next 2 /3 nights.
see interaction & international page for new addition.