IMD's Ranchi Meteorological Centre has issued an alert of heavy rain in Jharkhand due to a cyclonic storm originating from the Bay of Bengal.

IMD officials said on Saturday that a low-pressure area has formed over East Central Bay of Bengal on Saturday. It is likely to concentrate into a depression by tomorrow (May 23) morning.

The system will move northwestwards and will intensify into a cyclonic storm Yaas (the name, given by Oman, means disappointment) by May 24. It islikely to develop into a severe cyclonic storm in the next 24 hours.

Satellite pictures and weather models suggest that it would continue to move northwestwards, intensify further and reach North Bay of Bengal near West Bengal, adjoining north Odisha and Bangladesh coasts around May 26.

The cyclone is likely to cross West Bengal and adjoining north Odisha and Bangladesh coasts on the evening of May 26.

"This will result in isolated heavy rainfall in south eastern parts of Jharkhand on May 25 and again heavy rain on May 26 in north-eastern, central and southern Jharkhand," said Abhishek Anand, head of Ranchi Meteorological Centre.

The Ranchi Met Centre also issued an alert of moderate thunderstorm and gusty winds blowing at speeds of 40 to 50 kmph on May 25 and 26.

Officials at IMD-New Delhi said the South-West monsoon entered the eastern parts of the Bay of Bengal on Friday, around the normal date.

"This corresponds with the normal time of arrival of the South-West monsoon over the South-East Bay of Bengal and the South Andaman Sea. The eagerly anticipated onset of the monsoon over mainland India along the Kerala coast is expected to happen around May 31 as per our assessment," said a senior IMD official told The Telegraph Online from New Delhi.

On Saturday, however, dry weather prevailed in most parts of Jharkhand with partly cloudy sky.

In its forecast, IMD's Ranchi centre predicted dry weather in Jharkhand with mainly clear sky for the next two days with rise in maximum temperature by two to three degree Celsius.