A cyclonic circulation over Bihar and Jharkhand caused heavy rain in Ranchi yesterday. The city broke its all-time record of rain for a single day. In the last 24 hours, intense pre-Monsoon rain along with strong winds and hailstorms lashed Jharkhand’s capital city.
The roads and parks in the city had turned white, and the city of waterfalls looked no less than a snowy hill station. Localites shared photographs of ping pong ball sized hailstorms on social media platforms.
During this period, especially in the month of May, the Chotanagpur region is prone to some intense weather activity. This pocket is favourable for the Nor’westers, which is a local thunderstorm, accompanied by rain, and squally winds. In the last 24 hours, Ranchi recorded 58 mm rain, which is the highest for the region in a single day since 1959.
On May 31, 1959, Ranchi had observed 54.6 mm rain, which was the all-time highest until yesterday. In the last 10 years, the city has not received more than 33 mm rain, which was on May 5, 2010 in a span of 24 hours.
This is the first major pre-Monsoon spell in the city. Before this, Ranchi had been observing light rainfall. The maximum temperature recorded yesterday was 38°C which is high for a city that lies at an elevation of 2200 ft. The minimum, which was 24°C, has now come down to 19.7°C. However, residents will get some respite from the scorching heat as temperatures are likely to drop further.
Rain is expected to persist for another 2-3 days in Ranchi due to which, temperatures may drop significantly.
Image Credit (@pk1200 twitter)
