Chandigarh, Jan 3 (IANS) Chandigarh and its adjoining states of Punjab and Haryana received winter rain Sunday and the weatherman forecast more showers in the coming days.
“Since (Sunday) morning, we have had moderate spells of rainfall in Chandigarh and various towns of Punjab and Haryana, including Patiala, Amritsar, Nawanshahr, Ambala, Rohtak, Hisar and Karnal,” said Chatar Singh Malik, director of the Chandigarh Meteorological Centre.

“We expect isolated spells of rain to continue in the coming days. It could also lead to a sharp decline in the temperature, especially during nights,” he said.

Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana also saw dense fog Sunday morning reducing the visibility to below 100 metres. Many trains were delayed and thousands of passengers were stranded at railway stations.

Owing to poor weather conditions, not even a single scheduled flight could land or take off from Chandigarh airport. Air India, Jet Airways, Go Air, Kingfisher and MDLR are major airlines that operate from here.

“Due to poor visibility, none of the 15 flights could land or take off from here, consecutively for the second day. The Instrument Landing System (ILS) is also not working and that made the situation more problematic,” said an official of the Chandigarh airport.

Amritsar in Punjab was the coldest in the region with a minimum temperature of minus 0.8 degrees Celsius. However, Ludhiana and Patiala were comparatively warmer at 8.8 degrees Celsius and 10.1 degrees Celsius, respectively.

“Dense fog and cloudy weather have brought some relief from cold weather. In the last 12 hours, we have seen a good increase in temperature, ranging from two to three degrees in most parts of the region,” said a Met official here Sunday.

In Haryana, minimum temperatures at Ambala, Karnal and Hisar towns were 8.3 degrees Celsius, 9.5 degrees Celsius and 10 degrees Celsius, respectively.