Light drizzle and an overcast sky replaced the dry and crisp westerly winds across the state on Thursday.

Several places in central and southern parts of Jharkhand including Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Khunti, Simdega and Seraikela-Kharsawan experienced light showers since Wednesday evening. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) observatory in Jamshedpur recorded around 1mm of rain while Ranchi recorded 0.6mm.

The Ranchi Meteorological Centre issued an alert of shallow to moderate fog during the next 48 hours over Jharkhand.

The Met forecast also suggested fall in night temperature by 3° to 4°C in the next 72 hours.

“Jharkhand is witnessing convergence of south-westerly and south-easterly winds. Such a weather phenomenon was resulting in heavy

moisture incursion into the atmosphere resulting in cloud formation,” said S.D. Kotal, director of the IMD’s Ranchi centre.

He said the southerly wind was dominating over Jharkhand and that such a wind pattern was expected to continue for another 24 hours.

In Ranchi the minimum reading shot up to 13°C on Thursday, three notches above normal. Jamshedpur registered a minimum of 15.9°C, four notches above normal.

In Daltonganj, the minimum reading rose to 14.9°C, six points above normal.

In Bokaro, Dhanbad, Deoghar, Hazaribagh, Koderma, Simdega and several other districts, the minimum temperature witnessed a rise while the day temperature nosedived by several notches.

Weatherman also hinted at another western disturbance in west Rajasthan which is likely to impact Jharkhand's weather at the end of the month.

However, the Met scientists ruled out the return of cold-wave conditions for the next two weeks.