Gurgaon: Light overnight showers brought relief to the city on Friday even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned that the active southwest monsoon would continue to influence Haryana over the next four days. The heaviest rainfall is expected to remain confined to the state’s northern districts while Gurgaon and south Haryana are likely to receive only isolated spells.The city recorded 8mm of rainfall during the 24 hours ending 8.30am Friday, according to IMD. Gurgaon’s automatic weather station also recorded a minimum temperature of 25.3 degrees Celsius, about 1.1 degrees higher than the previous day, although night temperatures remained below the seasonal average due to persistent cloud cover and intermittent rain.Rainfall varied across the district. While NorthCap University AWS recorded 0.5 mm, the KVK station reported no rainfall.The cooling effect of the monsoon was evident across Haryana, where the average minimum temperature dropped by 0.2 degrees Celsius compared with Thursday and remained around 2 degrees below normal.The IMD’s Chandigarh Meteorological Centre has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in northern Haryana on Friday, with heavy rain expected to continue at isolated places from Saturday to Monday.According to the forecast bulletin, the active weather is being driven by a low-pressure area over northern parts of central Uttar Pradesh, an active monsoon trough passing through Ganganagar and Hisar before extending eastwards, and a western disturbance persisting over north Pakistan. Together, these systems are expected to sustain widespread monsoon activity over north India during the next few days.For Saturday, IMD has issued a heavy rain warning for Chandigarh, Panchkula and Ambala, while Yamunanagar has been placed under a heavy to very heavy rainfall warning. Light to moderate rainfall is likely at most places in Yamunanagar, many places in Chandigarh, Panchkula and Ambala, and a few places in Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Karnal and Panipat. In contrast, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Nuh, Palwal, Rewari, Jhajjar, Mahendragarh, Rohtak, Sonipat, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Jind, Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri are expected to witness only isolated showers.The forecast suggests the rainfall pattern will remain largely unchanged over the weekend. Heavy rain warnings will continue for Panchkula, Ambala and Yamunanagar on Saturday, Sunday and Monday before easing from Tuesday onwards, although isolated light to moderate rainfall is likely to persist across parts of the state until July 16.The IMD said persistent cloud cover and recurring rainfall have helped keep temperatures below normal across the state and are likely to continue providing relief from heat over the coming days, even though humidity levels will remain high. While the monsoon has become active across Haryana, the latest forecast indicates that the most intense rainfall will continue to remain concentrated over the northern districts, with Gurgaon expected to receive only intermittent showers through the weekend.
