Amdavadis sweat as rain plays truant

With the southwest monsoon playing truant on Sunday, large tracts of Gujarat sweated it out, while only a few regions, including Saurashtra, witnessed rainfall. Despite cloudy sky and high humidity, rains failed the city, giving no respite to Amdavadis from the scorching heat. The met department had predicted rain or a thunder shower either on Sunday evening or night.

High humidity and rising day temperature dampened the spirits of Amdavadis on Sunday, confining them to their homes most of the afternoon. "We are waiting for a good shower to get respite from the heat, but in vain," said Hema Kiri, a homemaker in Satellite area. "The lighting and drizzle on Friday night had raised hope of a good rain during the weekends," she added.

Although a few region in the state, like Ranpur, Umargaon, Barwala, Waghodia, Mahuva, Lodhika, Lathi, Lilia, Gariyadhar and Palitana, received rainfall, most other parts, including Kutch, remained parched.  

Mercury level shot up to 41.8 degree Celsius on Sunday in Ahmedabad, with the humidity level oscillating between 28 and 73 per cent. Similar was the case in Surat, where despite a cloudy weather, there was a dry spell which left citizens to bear high temperature.  The maximum temperature in the city was recorded at 33.8 degree Celsius, while minimum was 26.4 degree Celsius. Atmospheric pressure was 998 milibar and humidity level increased by 9 per cent to touch 88 per cent during the day.
Though the neighbouring areas of Vadodara, like Karjan, received considerably good rain, the city had not been lucky enough.

According to met department's prediction, light to moderate rain or thundershowers are likely to occur at a few places in all the districts of Gujarat state and in Diu, Daman, Dadra Nagar Haveli in the next 24 hours.