Punjab, Haryana receive heavy rainfall in May; deficient in Himachal

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 29

While rains in the month of May so far have been surplus in the agrarian states of Punjab and Haryana, the precipitation has been significantly deficient in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh.

Many parts of the region experienced light to moderate showers over the past 24 hours, bringing respite from the severe heatwave affecting these states, where temperatures remained above normal over the past few days. The rains also augur well for the paddy plantation and also the water situation, including recharge of groundwater.

From May 1 to May 29, Punjab received 22.3 mm rain compared to the long-period average (LPA) of 16.9 mm for this period, while Haryana received 21.2 mm against the LPA of 17.4 mm, making the downpour surplus by 32 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively.

Himachal, on the other hand, received only 36 mm rain against the LPA of 63.5 mm for the same period, making it deficient by 43 per cent, according to data compiled by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

As far as the situation over the past 24 hours is concerned, most districts of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh received varying amount of rain, while in Punjab rain it was largely experienced in the Malwa region.

Himachal recorded 4.1 mm rain against the normal of 1.7 mm for the day, while Punjab and Haryana received 3.6 mm and 2.6 mm rain respectively against the normal of 0.4 mm and 1 mm, respectively, the IMD data states.

These rains, accompanied by winds, have been attributed to a mid-tropospheric level western disturbance over east Afghanistan and adjoining Pakistan and a cyclonic circulation over northeast Rajasthan and its neighbourhood at lower tropospheric levels. The weather department has predicted more rain and thunderstorms of varying intensity at many places in the region over the next three days.

During the month, Barnala remained the wettest district in Punjab, with an excess of 309 per cent, flowed by Patiala, Tarn Taran and Faridkot where the surplus ranged between 194 to 128 per cent. The hardest-hit were SAS Nagar, Rupnagar and Hoshiarpur, with the deficiency ranging between 100 per cent to 56 per cent.

Rains in most of southern Haryana remained below par during May. Gurugram, Palwal, Faridabad and Bhiwani were the hardest hit, with the deficiency being 91 to 68 per cent.

Barring Sirmour district in Himachal, rains in rest of the state remained below LPA in May. Kinnaur, with a deficiency of 74 per cent and Bilaspur, with a deficiency of 67 per cent were the hardest hit.