Interaction of the Western Disturbance and lower level southeasterlies from the Bay of Bengal was likely to cause fairly widespread light to moderate rain and thundershowers with isolated thunderstorms, lightning, and hail in Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh on Friday and parts of central and east India till Saturday.
Parts of Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand are likely to receive light rain and snowfall over the next 24 hours, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. It added light rain and thunderstorms with lightning was expected in eastern Uttar Pradesh, northern Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and northern Chhattisgarh during the same time.Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh earlier received snowfall on Wednesday and Thursday due to a Western Disturbance.
The Western Disturbance as a cyclonic circulation was lying over northern Pakistan and an induced cyclonic circulation over Rajasthan. Under the influence of these systems, widespread light to moderate rain and snow with thunderstorms, lightning, and hail was likely over the Western Himalayan region till Friday evening.
“There has been snowfall over Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. When the wind direction changes on Friday temperatures are likely to fall significantly once again due to cold north-westerly winds which will be blowing from the direction of snowclad Himalayas. The minimum temperature in Delhi could be around 7°C on Saturday. But from Feb 8, temperatures will rise again because another Western Disturbance is approaching on Feb 12,” said Kuldeep Shrivastava, head, Regional Weather Forecasting Centre. He added that cold wave conditions are unlikely in northwest India..
Dry north-westerly winds were likely to blow over northwest India from Friday onwards bringing chilly winds from the Western Himalayas. This will result in a fall in minimum temperatures by 4-6 degrees Celsius (°C) in northwest India during the next three to four days, IMD said in its bulletin on Thursday. The minimum temperature in Delhi on Friday at 5.30am was 9°C, down from 12.4°C a day earlier.
Report- Vikas Chandra Agrawal