With the mercury rising in the past one week, brief spells of rain in some parts of Punjab and Haryana on Monday gave much-needed relief with the maximum temperatures dropping a bit.Ambala and Karnal in Haryana recorded a high of 37.2 degrees Celsius, three to four degrees lower than the past few days.In Chandigarh, the maximum temperature was 37.5 degrees, two degrees below average. The temperature here on Sunday was 40.1 degrees.Chandigarh got nine mm of rainfall while Ambala got 12.4 mm of rain.
Most places in the region had sizzled in 40-plus temperatures in the past week.Hisar in Haryana recorded 41 degrees on Monday. It had recorded 42.5 degrees on Sunday.In Punjab, Sikh holy city Amritsar was at 38.8 degrees. Ludhiana had a high of 39.3 and Patiala 38.6 degrees.Ludhiana and Patiala also got some rain.Weather officials said that temperatures will rise further in the range of 43-47 degrees from next week onwards as the region will come in the grip of a heat wave.