Chandigarh receives 13.5 mm rain, hail on wettest April day in 4 years

Due to rain, mercury plunged by 14 notches within three hours; India Meteorological Department has forecast clear skies from Saturday

After light rain on Friday morning, the weather shifted dramatically in the evening, bringing not just rain and thunder, but even hail, causing the temperature to drop by 14 notches in just three hours.

Youngsters making the most of showers at a park in Chandigarh on Friday. Apart from 13.5 mm rain, hail, with 0.8 cm diameter, was also recorded at the Sector 39 IMD observatory. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

Having climbed to 37.2°C earlier in the day, the maximum temperature plunged to 23°C by 8 pm after 13.5 mm lashed the city, highest in April since 2020.

It had rained more in the month only on April 19, 2020, when 40.3 mm rain was recorded.

As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), hail, with 0.8 cm diameter, was also reported at the Sector 39 IMD observatory. The hail fell for three minutes, starting at 6.53 pm. Other parts of the tricity, like Zirakpur, reported longer spells of hail.

Speaking about this, IMD Chandigarh director AK Singh said, “Alerts for hail had earlier been issued for Himachal Pradesh, but the warning was updated looking at the system on Friday, and an orange alert for hail and thunderstorm was also declared for Chandigarh as well.”

Singh added that hail was not out of the ordinary for April and was reported last year as well on April 20, when the diameter had gone up to 0.3 cm. Earlier this year, on February 2, hail, up to 1 cm in diameter, had fallen in the city for around 20 minutes.

On how hail is formed, Singh said the temperature needed to be low enough at the top and there needed to be a strong system to keep the frozen water droplets suspended in the air long enough for them to get larger and not melt before they hit the surface.

Before the rain in the evening, the maximum temperature rose from 36.7°C on Thursday to 37.2°C on Friday, 1.9 degree above normal and the highest it has gone this month till now.

With 0.9 mm rain around midnight, the cloudy weather caused the minimum temperature to rise from 21.8°C on Thursday to 23.5°C on Friday, 2.2 degrees above normal.

As per IMD officials, now clear weather is likely from Saturday onwards.

Over the next three days, the maximum temperature will return to the 35°C-36°C range, while the minimum temperature will remain around 23°C.