Several places across Jharkhand including Ranchi, Dhanbad and Jamshedpur witnessed thunderstorm, lightning and rain due to the impact of the cyclonic storm Asani.
Officials said the cyclone started impacting Jharkhand's weather since yesterday. The impact will be felt for another two days - Wednesday and Thursday- resulting in rain and thunderstorm activity at several places, especially Kolhan and Santhal Pargana region.
Satellite pictures suggested that the cyclone over westcentral Bay of Bengal moved northnortheastwards and lay centered over the same region near latitude 15.9°N and
longitude 81.4°E, about 40 km southeast of Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 140 Km southwest of Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), 280 Km southwest of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 520 km southwest of Gopalpur (Odisha) and 630 Km southwest of Puri (Odisha).
It is very likely to move north-northeastwards along Narsapur, Yanam, Kakinada, Tuni and Visakhapatnam coasts till evening of today and emerge into westcentral Bay of Bengal off North Andhra Pradesh coasts by tonight. The system is likely to weaken further into a depression by tomorrow ( Thursday ) morning.
The satellite pictures showed another trough running roughly along Longitude 87°E to the north of Latitude 25°N at 5.8 Km above the mean sea level Statistics available from IMD's Ranchi Met Centre indicated light to moderate rain at isolated places while very heavy rain was also recorded at one or two places over the state during the past 24- hours. The highest rainfall of 129.2 mm was recorded at Panchet in Dhanbad. Maithon in the same district ( Dhanbad ) too recorded heavy rainfall of over 50 mm.
On Wednesday afternoon several places including Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Simdega, Latehar, Jamtara, Pakur, Sahibganj, Dumka, Dhanbad, West Singhbhum and adjoining Seraikela saw incessant rain accompanied by thunder and lightning. The highest maximum temperature of around 40°C was recorded at Daltonganj while the
lowest minimum temperature of 23.8°C was recorded at Ranchi. Weathermen said, thundershower and lightning accompanied by light to moderate rain was expected at isolated places over north-east, southern and central Jharkhand during the next 48- hours.
The Met centre also alerted people not to take shelter under trees and thatched houses during thunderstorm and lightning. Heavy moisture incursion from Bay of Bengal was taking place into the atmosphere because of the cyclone
According to the forecast the maximum temperature would continue to rise by two to four degree Celsius after 48- hours, as the cyclone will become weak.
