Contrasting weather: Day remains hot, but rain makes evening cooler in Pune

PUNE: Most parts of the city on Saturday witnessed intense thunder and light spells of convective rainfall owing to high day temperatures and moisture incursion from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.
Amid a yellow warning for thunderstorm and hail in Pune on Saturday, city's day temperatures soared to 38-39°C in areas like Shivajinagar, Pashan, Magarpatta and Lohegaon, among others, as early as 2.30pm on Saturday. This was followed by the formation of thunder clouds and light rain spells. The dark cloud cover, however, gave a huge respite from the heat, bringing in cool breeze and even hail in areas like Bhugaon and Paud Road.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has cautioned that two types of contrasting weather conditions have been prevailing in the city -- high day temperatures with intense rain thunderstorm and lightning. The Met department has advised people to avoid stepping out between 11am and 4pm to preclude dehydration and heat exhaustion.
Anupam Kashyapi, head of weather forecasting division, IMD, Pune, said, "Forecast of very light to light spells of rain, thunder and lightning continues till April 19 in the city. Satellite images on Saturday showed Pune district/city under significant thunder clouds. The colour indicated less intense rain (light to moderate with thunder/lightning). Maximum temperature is still high, indicating not much relief in coming days from this kind of thundery activity or lightning or rain."
He said cumulonimbus cloud height over parts of Pune was around 12km, and the inner dark orange colour in radar images had also indicated likely chance of hail in isolated pockets of the city. Hence, hail was also reported in isolated areas.
On Saturday, Talegaon recorded 8mm rainfall, followed by NDA (6mm), Pashan (4mm), Magarpatta (2.5mm), Shivajinagar (2.4mm), Lavale and Wadgaonsheri (1mm).
The Pune city fire brigade received 12 emergency calls about tree felling due to strong winds and rainfall on Saturday evening.
On Sinhagad Road, trees fell on SUVs, cars and two-wheelers.
No one was injured in these incidents, fire brigade officials said, adding that tree-felling calls were received from the Bibvewadi, Ganj Peth, Taljai, Kondhwa, Law College Road, Lullanagar, Dhankawadi, Sinhagad Road and Kothrud areas.
As per the Met department's Regional Meteorological Center, Mumbai, parts of Maharashtra may get thunderstorm accompanied with lightning , light to moderate rain and gusty winds (30-40kmph) at isolated places on April 18-19 too. These locations include Palghar, Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Nashik, Aurangabad, Hingoli, Nanded, Latur and Amravati, among others.
Till 8.30am on Saturday morning too, rain spells were recorded in some places in Madhya Maharashtra.
Heavy rainfall & hail in Nashik
Heavy rainfall and hail lashed Nashik city and parts of district for over an hour on Saturday evening, disrupting power supply for some time. The rainfall and hail started in Sinnar taluka at 4pm. The farmers are now a worried lot and fear further loss to their crops.
Rain triggers power failure in Kolhapur
The weather remained hot and humid in Kolhapur on Saturday, a day after heavy rain with thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds lashed the city, causing power disruption.