Visibility was poor in various parts of the state on Friday due to shallow fog and mist in the morning.
Weathermen said the foggy and misty condition was due a western disturbance, an associated cyclonic circulation and a trough hovering 1.5km above the mean sea level.
“The cyclonic circulation was due to the impact of a western disturbance. It is helping moisture incursion into the atmosphere and restricting the flow of westerly winds,” explained S.D. Kotal, director of the Ranchi Meteorological Centre.
The western disturbance was passing through Himachal Pradesh between 3.1km and 7.6km above mean sea level. The induced cyclonic circulation was over western Rajasthan and Haryana up to 1.5km above mean sea level, while the trough at 1.5km above sea level was stretched over south Haryana and northwest Madhya Pradesh.
If the skies in Ranchi were relatively clear, outskirts of the capital saw early morning mist. Shallow fog descended on the steel city soon after sunrise around 6.20am and cleared only after 8am. Those manning the local IMD observatory at Sonari said visibility in Jamshedpur was reduced to around 1km while places like Mango, Ghatshila and Chandil located on the foothills of Dalma saw visibility going below 500m soon after sunrise.
The poor visibility affected movement of long-distance buses and other heavy vehicles on NH-33 between Jamshedpur and Ranchi.
Visibility in Jamshedpur returned to normal, around 2.5km, by 8.30am. Early morning fog was also reported from Simdega, Khunti, Gumla and districts of the Santhal Pargana region.
The minimum temperatures also rose in most parts of the state. Ranchi recorded a minimum of 13.2°C — which was normal — against Thursday’s 12.2 °C. Forecasts said minimum temperatures would continue to rise over the next two days while day temperature would witness a fall due to cloud cover. Daltonganj recorded a minimum of 13.7°C, one notch above normal, against Thursday’s 12.5°C. In Jamshedpur the minimum reading witnessed an abrupt rise to 16.2°C, one point above normal, against Thursday’s 13.4 °C.
Minimum readings also rose in Bokaro, Dumka, Pakur, Hazaribagh, Dhanbad and several other places.
The Ranchi Met Centre predicted cloudy sky with possibility of light to moderate rain or thundershower in north, central and south-western Jharkhand . Forecast of rain in many places was also issued for Sunday and Monday. Weathermen also issued an alert of thunderstorms and lightning in isolated places for the next three days.