Heavy hailstorm hits city

Rushank Goyal, a student, added, “It was an eye candy to see our city clad in white. It is not something that happens as a routine. Roads and cars were all covered in heavy hailstorm.”

Children were seen gathering in parks trying to collect hail in hands to make snowballs. However, the unpredictable weather was not a good sign for farmers in villages with wheat crop in fields. K K Gill, assistant meteorologist, Punjab Agricultural University, told Newsline, “We have to do a survey on how much this weather has damaged the crop. But since wheat crop has still not reached a matured stage, we are expecting very few cases of damage.”

She said that hail was an effect of weather in Shimla and J&K which received a fresh spell of snow on Friday. “The weather will clear by Sunday morning and bright sunny days are predicted ahead. Also, there is no major effect on temperature as maximum continues to be around 15-16 degree Celsius and minimum 6-7 degree Celsius which is normal for February,” she added.