Pleasant temperature in North, Rajasthan escapes drought

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With intermittent showers lashing the North, most parts of the region witnessed pleasant weather as temperatures hovered close to normal levels.

Rajasthan narrowly escaped the drought due to widespread rainfall in the past few days which brought the entire state in the category of ‘normal’ monsoons.

A drought was looming large over the desert state following deficient rain since the arrival of South-West monsoon but light to very heavy rainfall over the last few days has improved the situation.

It was yet another comfortable day for Delhiites as mercury remained at normal level though there were no rains in the capital. The maximum temperature was recorded at 33.1 deg C, which is normal at this time of the season, while the minimum was recorded at 25.5 deg C, one degree below normal.

The humidity oscillated between 65 per cent and 89 per cent. In Punjab and Haryana the day temperatures on Thursday hovered around normal levels. Chandigarh recorded a high of 34.9 degrees Celsius, the local MeT office said here.

In Haryana, the maximum temperature in Ambala settled at 36.1 deg C while Bhiwani's maximum was 33 deg C. The MeT has forecast light to moderate rain or thundershowers at a few places in Haryana and Punjab over the next two days.

In Rajasthan, the current rain deficit is just 0.57 per cent, the water level in dams has also increased. "The state as a whole is now under the normal category receiving 355.64 mm rainfall," according to data by the water resources department here.

The rainfall deficit was around 30 per cent during the last few days of July. Four districts have received excess rainfall that is 20 to 59 per cent above average, 14 districts have received rainfall under the normal category, which is 19 per cent more or less than average.

The number of districts falling under deficit category (20 to 59 per cent less than average) has reduced to 11 and there is no district under scanty category (60 per cent less than average).

72 dams out of total 724 across the state are completely filled while 381 are partially filled and 271 are empty.