After days of relentless, record-breaking heat with not a cloud in sight, Friday brought something different — and it began as a warning rather than a relief. Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula woke up to overcast skies and a mild breeze, which by 8.30 am had churned into a light to moderate duststorm sweeping across the tricity. The dust-laden air, while briefly cutting the intensity of the sun, did little to ease conditions and in fact compounded the misery of residents already battling a severe heatwave that has been in force since Tuesday with an orange alert through May 27.
The IMD issued a yellow alert nowcast at 9 am, warning of thunderstorm with rain and gusty winds of 30 to 40 kmph likely over parts of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula and adjoining areas within the next two to three hours. Radar imagery from the Patiala Doppler Weather Radar confirmed active storm cells developing over the region. People have been advised to stay in safer places during thunderstorm activity and not take shelter under trees.
PUNJAB-WIDE ALERT: STORMS BEARING DOWN FROM LUDHIANA BELT
The Punjab nowcast, also issued around 9 am, flags a more intense spell just to the south and east. A moderate thunderstorm with wind speeds of 40 to 60 kmph and lightning is very likely over parts of Fatehgarh Sahib, Amloh, Bassi Pathana, Khanna, Payal, Khamano, Ludhiana East, Chamkaur Sahib, Samrala, Ropar, Ludhiana West, Phillaur, Balachaur, Nawanshahr, Anandpur Sahib and Garhshankar. A lighter thunderstorm with winds of 30 to 40 kmph and lightning is very likely over a broader sweep that includes Chandigarh, Mohali, Kharar, Patiala, Nabha, Rajpura, Barnala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Phagwara, Nakodar, Hoshiarpur, Dasuya and Nangal.
TRACE OF RAIN OVERNIGHT, NIGHTS GETTING HOTTER
Chandigarh recorded a trace of rain overnight — its first in over a week — a small but symbolically significant development after the unbroken dry stretch that has been feeding the heatwave. However, the overnight rain did nothing to cool the nights: in fact, the minimum temperature in Chandigarh city shot up to 26.2°C — a reading that is 2.3 degrees above the season’s normal — while the airport weather observatory registered an even higher 27.8°C. Across Punjab, Patiala and Faridkot recorded the hottest nights in the state, both at 29°C. Mohali saw Punjab’s second hottest night at 28.8°C. In contrast, the coolest nights were at Pathankot in Punjab at 22.3°C and Rohtak in Haryana at 22.4°C.
STILL THE ORANGE HEATWAVE SIEGE — BUT FRIDAY’S CLOUDS CARRY HOPE
Today’s overcast skies, the trace of rain and the IMD alert for thunderstorm and rain are the first concrete signals of even partial relief from the ferocious heat spell that has had Chandigarh at 44.4°C and 44.2°C on Wednesday and Thursday respectively — the two highest May readings in the city since 2012, barring 2024’s all-time record of 46°C. The five-day forecast issued Thursday evening had already pencilled in partly cloudy skies for Friday and Saturday, with a maximum of 42°C on Friday and 40°C on Saturday — modest steps down from the recent peak. But the orange heat alert remains firmly in force through Wednesday (May 27), with heatwave to severe heatwave at many places forecast from Sunday through the end of the warning period. Any relief today will be short-lived unless the storm system delivers meaningful rain.
For now, the duststorm has done what it always does in a heatwave, while the region waits to see whether Friday’s clouds finally convert into cooling rain.
