The agrarian states of Punjab and Haryana remained totally dry in October this year, while there has only been a trace of rain in the adjoining hill state of Himachal Pradesh.
There was no rainfall in Punjab and Haryana from October 1 to 28, while the normal for this period is 8.4 mm and 9.2 mm, respectively. The deficiency in Himachal Pradesh is 99 per cent, according to data compiled by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).
Kullu is the only district in Himachal to get rain this month, which was recorded by the IMD at just 0.2 mm against the normal of 26.7 mm. The normal rainfall for the state for this period is 26.3 mm. Some upper reaches of Himachal experienced the season’s first snowfall recently. In addition to the aforementioned states, most parts of northern, western and central India witnessed deficient rainfall in October. The weatherman has predicted that generally dry weather would continue to prevail in these areas over the next few days.
Today also happens to be the day when the south-western monsoon, which retreated from the region in September-end, has finally withdrawn from the entire country and simultaneously, north-eastern monsoon rains have commenced over South India.
According to the IMD, maximum as well as minimum temperatures were up to 3°C above normal over some parts of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, while some parts witnessed temperature below normal by up to 3°C. It has predicted that the mercury is likely to fall by 2-3°C over some parts of north-western India over the next three days.
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/punjab-haryana-go-dry-in-october-himachal-gets-a-trace-of-rain-162450