If you ventured out in Gurgaon around 5pm yesterday, you would have been welcomed by the sight of roads carpeted white with ice. In fact one could almost be forgiven for mistaking it for Gulmarg or even Simla. The reason for this was an hour-long hailstorm that lashed the city last evening along with heavy rains and strong winds. The ferocity of the storm could be judged by the fact it took almost half an hour for the ice to melt away from the roads.

And, while Delhi also witnessed rain and winds, the hail was restricted to Gurgaon. But the rain was severe enough to cause considerable damage, with uprooting of trees and huge puddles of water leading to long trafiic jams and power going for a toss in several areas. Eight people were even killed and 16 injured when a 20-year old building collapsed in the Madipur area of West Delhi.

The cause for this freaky weather in February is once again the same old culprit – Western disturbance, this time moving in from Pakistan and expected to affect several areas in North India. The thick cloud cover and strong winds have made people unpack their woolens which had been stashed away for the season, and the temperature is expected to go even lower once the cloud cover dispersed.

And in case you are getting depressed by the grey skies and wet roads, the Met department has some bad news in store since it expects this weather to continue at least for the next 48 hours.