Kolkata on Monday evening received heavy rains dropping the mercury to 36 degrees Celsius after over a month of heatwave conditions.
Light to moderate rain accompanied by gusty wind brought welcome relief in several districts, bringing down the mercury significantly.
The Bengal capital received a downpour along with thunderstorms and heavy lightning. The rain comes amid the IMD predicting thunderstorms with strong winds in several districts of West Bengal till May 10.
Meanwhile, several parts of Karnataka including Bengaluru, Kolar and Anekal received heavy rains amid a yellow alert for thunderstorms.
Here are all the updates regarding weather prevailing across the country:
- The thundershowers in the evening rush hours in Kolkata was not seen as an inconvenience by many returning home from work, happy at the relief from the oppressive heat that has been prevailing for several days.
- The vehicular movement was affected in many areas in Bengaluru, with slow-moving traffic reported in areas including Hebbal flyover towards the airport and Veerannapalya, Summanahalli, Maharani underpass, Vaddarapalya signal, Summanahalli, Nagawara, Hebbal railway station, and Kamakshipalya.
- Mysuru, Ramanagara and Tumakuru are the districts that have been issued yellow alerts for thunderstorms.
- The weather office said a cyclonic circulation over south Jharkhand and strong moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal will bring thunderstorms with lightning and gusty wind in various districts of West Bengal.
- Jharkhand, which has been reeling under severe heatwave conditions, is likely to get rain for three days starting on Tuesday. On Monday, most parts of the state remained above 40 degrees Celsius with Seraikela registering a maximum of 44.3.
- Most parts of the state will get respite from the scorching heat because of light to moderate rains till May 9, which will bring down the mercury by four-six notches, said Upendra Srivastava, a weather scientist at the Ranchi Meteorological Centre.
- In Meghalaya, over 480 houses were damaged in the rains and thunderstorms that battered the state on Monday, Disaster Management Minister Kyrmen Shylla said. The rains, accompanied by strong winds, began on Sunday and werr continuing in several parts of the state on Monday as well.