NOIDA/GHAZIABAD: Eight-year-old Rahul had been pestering his father to take him to Kashmir because he wanted to play with snow. Commitments at work had forced his father to decline him every time.Half an hour though it was, the Class III student had his wish fulfilled on Thursday evening, at his doorstep.Residents of Delhi-NCR had their lawns and roads covered with sleet as a hailstorm blazed through the fag end of a punishing winter. Though the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had forecast rain and thunderstorm for the weekend, few had imagined that the city would be covered in a white blanket, something residents had only watched in hill stations or on TV.While children came out to collect hailstones in glasses, bowls and whatever they could find in the kitchen, their parents were no exception. “I was at home when my mother called out to me, saying she would show me something I had never seen before. When I rushed to the balcony, I saw hail on the ground. There was loud noise as the hailstones hit the windscreens of parked cars. In no time, the whole area was covered in white,” said Anvesha (12), a resident of Vivek Vihar in Noida Sector 82.Seniors were equally thrilled. Jagdhatri Mishra, another resident of the same society, said: “I tried hard not to allow my children venture out in the cold. But I relented, seeing their enthusiasm. Later, I too joined them. I have been living in Noida for so many years, but never have I seen something like this before. For a moment, it felt I was in a hill station.”It was half an hour of uninterrupted sleeting that societies, mostly along the Noida Expressway , experienced. Rain coupled with hailstorm occurred in sectors 82, 93, 94, 96, 97, 100, 135 and 137.Hailstorms are not unusual in NCR during the winter. But what Thursday’s downpour unusual was the magnitude of sleet and the streets and parks turning white. Old-timers could not recollect Noida turning this picturesque in recent memory. Youngsters took to social media and posted pictures of the city with captions comparing it to Kashmir and even Switzerland.Renuka Singh of Eldeco Utopia in Sector 93 said: “It was an overcast sky and windy since morning. But by afternoon, heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorm lashed the area. Soon after, hailstones were falling from the sky.”This brought down the temperature, too. It was 16°C around 5.15pm while the wind speed was recorded between 25 and 35 kmph.While most enjoyed the weather, some had to run for shelter to escape injuries. “My car was parked outside when the hailstorm started. I rushed to a shade in a park. But I was hit by some of the stones. It left red marks on my neck and hand. Even my car was damaged,” said Amit Parshar of JM Aroma in Sector 76.In Ghaziabad, the impact was less severe and limited to places like Raj Nagar and Shyam Park. “I was on way to Shastri Nagar on my bike when it started. Though it lasted briefly, I had to take cover inside a shop,” said Sanjay Mishra, a resident of Shastri Nagar in Ghaziabad.The met department attributed the hailstorm to a series of factors. “The hailstorm cannot be termed unusual for this time of the year. However, a number of factors contributed to making it severe. We had a confluence of winds coming from Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. At the same time, Jetstream, which are strong winds, were passing over the northern plains. This helped in deep cloud formation at the lower level,” said BP Yadav, head of IMD’s regional centre.Yadav also blamed cold winds and falling temperature, apart from the western disturbance for the showers. “The confluence led to severe thundercloud formation. Falling temperatures can cause hailstorm as well.”The downpour improved Delhi’s air quality to “moderate”, with an AQI of 176. “Air quality over Delhi is moderate and under the influence of western disturbances, scattered rain and high wind speed has significantly improved the air quality. The south westerly winds from the Arabian sea will bring more moisture and foggy condition may occur for next days. After the passing of the system the wind speed is expected to slow down which will deteriorate the air quality in coming days to poor after two days. Tomorrow it will remain in moderate,” said SAFAR’s forecast.The IMD has also predicted more rain and thunderstorm on Friday. “Scattered to fairly widespread rainfall/thundershowers would also occur over Uttar Pradesh on Friday,” it said in a statement.Rahul’s father, meanwhile, hopes his son won’t pester him for that Kashmir trip for some time.

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