The weather department has predicted a four-day continuous wet spell over north-west India, with a yellow alert being issued for thunderstorms and strong winds at a few places in Punjab and Haryana.Light to moderate rainfall is likely at a few places from October 12 -14 and at many places on October 15 in Punjab and Haryana, according to a bulletin issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on October 11.Thunderstorms and lightning accompanied with gusty winds with speeds of 40-50 kmph are also expected at isolated places till October 15, the bulletin added. Dry weather is expected thereafter.An upper air cyclonic circulation over Haryana along with a trough running from central Pakistan to northern Madhya Pradesh through the Jammu region, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh, and a western disturbance prevailing over Himachal Pradesh are being cited as the reason for the current wet spell.A satellite image released by the IMD on Jattvibeday shows a dense cloud cover over most parts of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and northern Uttar Pradesh as well as north-eastern Rajasthan adjoining Haryana. Partial cloud cover is seen over eastern Punjab, Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.Following a deficient monsoon, rainfall in October so far, too, has been deficient by 84 per cent in Haryana and 47 per cent in Punjab. From October 1 till the morning of October 11, Haryana received 0.8 mm rain against the long period average (LPA) of 5.2 mm for this period. Correspondingly, Punjab received 2.4 mm against the LPA of 4.4 mm.During this period, rainfall in Punjab has been significantly above normal in four districts. Faridkot reported a surplus of 181 per cent followed by Hoshiarpur with 180 per cent, Muktsar with 174 per cent and Pathankot with 54 per cent.In all other districts, rainfall has been below the LPA by at least 47 per cent, while 10 districts including Barnala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Fazilka, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Mansa, Moga, Patiala, Sangrur and Mohali remained totally dry.In Haryana, 17 districts have not received rain in October so far. Only two districts received above normal rains, with Panchkula recording a surplus of 71 per cent and Sirsa of 52 per cent. The shortfall in Ambala, Gurugram and Yamunanagar ranged from 65 per cent to 99 per cent, the IMD data showed.During the past 24 hours, day temperatures were below normal in both states while night temperatures were above normal. The highest maximum temperature in Punjab was 33.5 degrees Celsius and the lowest minimum temperature was 16.0 degrees Celsius, both at Bathinda.In Haryana, the highest maximum temperature was 34.0 degrees Celsius at Narnaul and the lowest minimum temperature was 20.0 degrees Celsius at Bhiwani, according to the IMD.Isolated to scattered rainfall, accompanied by thunderstorm, lightning and gusty winds with speeds reaching 60 kmph, is also likely over Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand on some days till October 17, with fairly widespread to widespread rainfall possible in these states on October 14 – 15, IMD further said.