Summary:
It has warned heavy rains at isolated places of the region during the next 48 hours. CHANDIGARH: Rains lashed Punjab, Haryana and their joint capital Chandigarh Saturday, inundating many low-lying areas in the two states and plummeting the maximum temperatures in the region by up to 11 degrees below the normal levels.While Chandigarh received 62 mm of rainfall, Ludhiana gauged 51 mm of rain, the meteorological office said here.Patiala received 50 mm of rainfall followed by Ambala 18 mm, Hisar 11 mm, Narnaul 7 mm, Bhiwani 5 mm, Karnal 2 mm and Amritsar 0.6 mm.The maximum temperature in Amritsar settled at 31 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal, while in Hisar it settled at 29.5 degrees Celsius, seven notches below normal.The maximum temperature at Chandigarh was 26.2 degrees celsius, nine notches below normal.Among other places, Karnal had a high of 25.2 degrees celsius, eight notches below normal, followed by 24.8 degrees celsius at Bhiwani, 23.8 degrees celsius at Ambala which was ten notches below normal.While the rainfall has done no damage to paddy crop, it had adverse effect on cotton crop, agriculture experts said.The weatherman has forecast light to moderate rains at most places in Punjab and Haryana till Monday..