India weather LIVE UPDATES: Delhi witnessed gusty winds—at a speed of up to 71 km per hour–coupled with light rain, which brought respite to the people who had been otherwise suffering from the scorching heat. (AP File Photo)
Normal life in Kolkata was temporarily thrown out of gear this afternoon when a high-intensity squall accompanied by rain uprooted trees and snapped cables, leading to chaos and traffic snarls in parts of the city. The one-minute-long squall, with a wind speed of up to 92 km per hour, was preceded by another 56kmph gust, Regional Met director G K Das said.
Meanwhile, it was a sunny day in the national capital with the minimum and maximum temperatures settling at normal levels even as the weatherman has forecast light rains and thunderstorm during the night. “The maximum temperature was recorded at 40.6 degrees Celsius while the minimum settled at 26.7 degrees Celsius, both normal for this time of the year,” a Meteorological official said.
Yesterday evening, gusty winds—at a speed of up to 71 km per hour–coupled with light rain hit the national capital, bringing respite to the people who had been otherwise suffering from the scorching heat. The maximum temperature yesterday settled at 41.8 degrees Celsius while the minimum was 26.1 degrees Celsius.
Highlights
The southwest monsoon is expected to hit Kerala on May 29, three days ahead of its normal onset date, the India Meteorological Department said. The Met Department said conditions were favourable for the onset of monsoon over the Andaman Sea and southeast Bay of Bengal from May 23. 'The southwest monsoon is expected to set over Kerala on May 29 with a modelled error of plus or minus four days,' the IMD said.
Alipore Observatory reported two squalls at 3.30 PM and 4.00 PM today with maximum wind speed 56 and 92 kmph respectively for one minute each. Kolkata witnessed a fall in temperature from 32.4 to 25.5 Degree Celsius.
Photos: Souradip Samant / ieBangla
Around 134 people were killed and over 400 were injured in five states at the very start of this month. The worst affected of them all, Uttar Pradesh, saw 80 deaths, most of them in Agra district in western part of the state.
Several parts of Uttar Pradesh were hit by a severe storm last week, leaving at least 18 dead and 27 others injured. Five people had died in Etawah district last Wednesday, three each in Mathura, Aligarh and Agra, two in Firozabad and one each in Hathras and Kanpur Dehat.
The skymetweather report further said that after 48 hours, affecting weather systems would weaken, which would lead to change in the wind pattern from moist winds to hot and dry north-westerlies.
With two essential factors of heat and moisture both available in the atmosphere, pre-monsoon activities would continue to affect several parts of northwestern plains including Delhi-NCR for the next 48 hours, reports skymetweather.
Last 24 hours also saw mild dust storm affecting some parts of Delhi. Now also, the situation remains favourable for another short spell of dust storm or thundershowers on Friday., reports skymetweather.
IMD predicts thunderstorm accompanied with squall and hail is very likely to occur at isolated places over Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab over the next two days. The agency has also predicted heavy rains at isolated places over Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, and Mizoram.
"The sky was partly cloudy in the morning and it will become generally cloudy towards evening or night. Very light rain or thundershowers accompanied by squall is likely to occur," an IMD official told IANS.
The IMD has warned of thunderstorms and strong winds across several parts of the country over the next three days. According to the agency’s alert on Thursday, the north-east region, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh would experience heavy rainfall in the 72 hours. Dust storms are also very likely in isolated places across Rajasthan. The IMD also predicted high-velocity winds in coastal Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Pudducherry and Kerala.
Welcome to the live blog. This warning from the IMD comes a day after a dust storm which hit the Delhi-NCR region in the early hours, killing one person and leaving 13 others injured. An 18-year-old from Gokal Puri area, identified as Sohail, was killed after one of the walls of his house collapsed on him, reported news agency PTI.