Daytime temperatures dropped sharply across northern India on Thursday, with Delhi registering its coldest October day in four years, as heavy rain lashed the region amid the weakening of ‘very severe’ cyclonic storm ‘Arnab’.
The IMD said the weather system, which weakened into a depression over south Chhattisgarh and adjoining south Odisha on Thursday morning, is expected to move northwards and further weaken into a well-marked low-pressure area by the evening. The local meteorological centre has issued a yellow warning, predicting thunderstorms and lightning in isolated areas of four districts — Kangra, Mandi, Shimla and Sirmaur — on Friday. In Himachal, light rains swept across a few places, while areas such as Shimla, Jubberhatti, Sundernagar, Kangra, Murari Devi and Palampur were hit by thunderstorms and lightning. In Rajasthan, a fresh western disturbance brought a change in weather across several parts of the state. The department has forecast moderate to heavy rain accompanied by isolated hailstorms in northern parts of Jaipur and Bharatpur divisions. In West Bengal, rain and squally winds lashed parts of the state as Cyclone Arnab lay centred over south Chhattisgarh and adjoining south Odisha.
Maximum temperatures ranged from 20.6 degrees Celsius in Haryana’s Karnal to 27.4 degrees Celsius in Punjab’s Patiala, with Delhi’s base weather station, Safdarjung, recording 25.4 degrees, about 5.6 degrees below normal. Kukumseri in the tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti was the coldest in the state at night, recording a low of minus 1.2 degrees Celsius. In Jharkhand, Gudabanda in East Singhbhum district recorded the highest 71.4 mm rainfall since Wednesday evening, followed by Manjhari in West Singhbhum district at 64 mm, the weather department here said. Ranchi registered 26.2 mm of rainfall, while Chaibasa recorded 60 mm of rain during the period. Several districts, including Ranchi, West Singhbhum, East Singhbhum and Simdega, ordered school closure on October 28 and 29 in view of the cyclone. In Odisha, the Indian Coast Guard started airlifting marooned people from flood- and landslide-hit Ganjam, while the Odisha government deployed 79 teams from different disaster response agencies for rescue operations in two districts following Cyclone Arnab. Chief Secretary Anu Garg said around 300 villages of Ganjam district were affected by floods, with 70 of them marooned.
An induced circulation over Punjab and adjoining areas is likely to bring rain and strong winds to parts of eastern Rajasthan, according to the Meteorological Department. The weather system is likely to intensify into a depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal as it moves in a west-northwestward direction, the weather office said. The state government was coordinating with the Union Home Ministry to facilitate air evacuations, she said. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
The forecast comes as heavy rains lashed West Bengal, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, and triggered heavy floods in Odisha, as Cyclone Arnab turned into a deep depression on Thursday, a day after making landfall in Andhra Pradesh and the Yanam coast. The Met has also warned of gusty winds and thunderstorms in several districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Lucknow, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Sultanpur and Amethi, and possible hailstorms in parts of western Uttar Pradesh on Friday. The IMD has issued ‘red’ and ‘orange’ alerts for thunderstorms in the Delhi-NCR region, Uttar Pradesh, and much of the northern states over the next two days. Rainfall activity is expected to decrease thereafter.
In Delhi, dark clouds hung over the capital since morning, with the city recording trace rainfall in the last 24 hours. The maximum temperature at Safdarjung, Delhi’s base weather station, settled at 25.4 degrees Celsius, 5.6 degrees below normal. It was the lowest for an October day since October 8, 2022, when the maximum was 23.4 degrees Celsius. Haryana’s Ambala recorded its maximum at 23.8 degrees Celsius, six degrees below normal, while Karnal’s maximum settled at 20.6 degrees, nine degrees below average. Narnaul, Rohtak and Bhiwani recorded their respective maximum temperatures at 25.5, 24.6 and 28 degrees Celsius, up to six degrees below normal. In neighbouring Punjab, Patiala recorded its maximum at 27.4 degrees Celsius, three degrees below normal. Ludhiana, Amritsar, Pathankot, Bathinda and Faridkot registered their respective maximum temperatures at 30.4, 30.6, 29, 31 and 34.9 degrees Celsius. The Met Office in Lucknow has also predicted a significant drop of around 5-8 degrees Celsius in maximum temperature across Uttar Pradesh on October 29 and 30. The maximum temperature is expected to fall by 3-5 degrees Celsius over the next 24 hours, it said.
In Haryana and Punjab, maximum temperatures dropped several degrees below normal at many places, according to the MeT office.
