Rain likely in Bihar from February 14 to 17: Weatherman

PATNA: The state is likely to witness a wet Valentine’s weekend as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted rainfall in the region from February 14 to 17.

The showers have been attributed to a western disturbance along with its interaction with tropical easterlies between February 13 and 15. Weathermen have claimed that this interaction is expected to cause thunderstorm accompanied with hailstorm and gusty winds at isolated places in the northern and north-eastern parts of the Indo-Gangetic plains.

“A fresh western disturbance travelling from northern India is likely to enter Bihar through the north-western region. It is expected to form cloudy sky with light rain in isolated parts of the state on February 14. The western disturbance may intensify its interaction with easterlies on February 15 and 16 which will cause fairly widespread rainfall accompanied by strong surface winds and hailstorm in many parts of the state,” an official at the local Met office told this newspaper on Monday.

Showers in the city have become frequent in the last lap of the winter season, following a series of moderate to intense western disturbances originating from the Mediterranean region.

A western disturbance is a low-pressure cyclone which originates in the Mediterranean basin (Black sea, Caspian Sea and Mediterranean Sea) and hovers eastwards through Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and north-western parts of the Indian subcontinent, causing winter rainfall.

A strong western disturbance led to occurrence of hailstorm in the Delhi-NCR region and rainfall in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar last week.

“This year Bihar has been hit by few western disturbances compared to previous years. While three moderately intense ones caused rainfall in the state during late January and early February, some feeble ones led to isolated showers in December. However, the last few years have witnessed more rain in the state during the months of winter than this year,” a Met official claimed.

According to a bulletin issued by private weather agency Skymetweather, the mercury column is expected to rise ahead of the rainfall. The average minimum temperature will hover around 14 degrees Celsius, while the maximum is expected to be around 27 degrees C. Moderate fog is also expected in the early hours.