Rain accompanied with strong winds brought back the chill in Chandigarh on Friday.
In fact, with 17.4mm rain recorded till 8:30pm at the India Meteorological Department (IMD)’s observatory in Sector 39, it was the wettest March day in the past four years.
“There was more rain on Friday due to the interaction between western disturbances and easterly winds. This led to higher than normal rainfall in the evening,” said IMD scientist Shivinder Singh, added that chances of light rain will continue on Saturday even as the system of western disturbances would have mostly passed the city.
The system peaked on Friday with wind speeds reaching up to 60km/hr at the Chandigarh airport in the evening. “Any rain or thunder on Saturday will be lesser as compared to that on Friday, and the weather is expected to clear up by the afternoon,” said an official.
Dry weather is likely to continue after Saturday, although another system of western disturbances is expected to bring rain the next week. Due to rain during the day, maximum temperature went down from 25.7°C recorded on Thursday to 21.4°C on Friday, as much as five notches below normal. After the spell of evening rainfall, temperature dropped down to 13 degrees, lower than the 14.8 degree maximum on Thursday.
In the next three days, maximum temperature will remain between 24 and 25 degrees while minimum will be around 13 degrees, said the weatherman
Bus rams into tree during rain
A Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) bus rammed into a tree, injuring the driver, near Centra Mall in the Industrial Area, Phase 1, on Friday morning. Police said the accident took place due to rain.
There was no one in the bus other than the driver, identified as Suresh. He was admitted to Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, where his condition is stated to be stable. The damaged bus was taken to the CTU workshop situated nearby. No case was registered.
