Districts in Vidarbha to get rain today, showers unlikely in Pune

PUNE: IMD has predicted light rain and thundershowers in several districts in Maharashtra on Saturday, but the city is unlikely to experience rainfall.
According to a forecast issued by the Regional Meteorological Centre of IMD in Mumbai, light rain and thundershowers are very likely to occur in districts such as Palghar, Thane, Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon and Nashik. Amravati, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Nagpur, Wardha and Yavatmal could see thunderstorm accompanied with lightning and gusty winds (speed reaching 30-40kmph) at isolated places on the first day of April.
Several parts of the state, including Pune, witnessed cloudy sky conditions on Friday afternoon. Rainfall had been ruled out though. IMD has predicted mainly clear sky, becoming partially cloudy towards afternoon/evening, and haze in the morning hours in the city on Saturday.
A senior IMD official said, "There is higher probability of rainfall and thundershowers in the districts of Vidarbha, such as Amravati, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Nagpur, Wardha and Yavatmal, on April 1. Districts in north Konkan and north Madhya Maharashtra have relatively lower chances of thundershowers, but clouding will occur."
He said reasons for the expected showers included the trough/wind discontinuity from a cyclonic circulation over central Uttar Pradesh to Telangana across east Madhya Pradesh and Vidarbha, extending up to 1.5km above the mean sea level. Also, the eastward movement of a western disturbance, affecting parts of north India, could be responsible.
"All western disturbances affecting parts of north India will not have a similar effect on parts of Maharashtra. But certain atmospheric conditions, such as southward intrusion of the jet stream and sufficient moisture supply (as is happening currently), should be there in conjunction for a western disturbance to make some impact on these parts. Currently, the wind discontinuity is bringing moisture over parts of Maharashtra, especially Vidarbha. Hence the rain forecast for isolated places in some regions in the state," he said.