The IMD Ranchi Meteorological Centre has forecast a fair weather with one or two spells of rain in the afternoon on Independence Day on August 15.

In 2020, several places across the state including Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad and Hazaribagh had witnessed heavy showers on Independence Day due to the impact of a low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal.

The Ranchi Meteorological Centre till Sunday issued an alert of light to moderate lightning and thunder.

It also predicted cloud cover in several districts with possibility of light rain in next 48 hours till Sunday.

However, from Monday onwards the state is expected to witness widespread rain till mid-week.

An alert of heavy rain was also issued for Monday at a few isolated places in northern Jharkhand.

Ruling out the possibility of heavy rain on the Independence Day on August 15 head of Ranchi Meteorological Centre, Abhishek Anand said, "We don't see possibility of heavy showers in the next two days in today's chart analysis and satellite images. However, the intensity of rain would increase from Monday and stay for a few days particularly in northern Jharkhand due to the presence of the monsoon trough in the foothills of Himalayas."

The western part of monsoon trough was running close to the foothills of Himalayas and the eastern part of it was passing through Gorakhpur, Muzaffarpur, Shantiniketan, Haldia and north east Bay of Bengal.

A cyclonic circulation over north Bihar and Uttar Pradesh was also hovering 3.1 Km above the mean sea level.

Anand said the cyclonic circulation would assist in rainfall activity from August 16.

Meteorological data suggest that southwest monsoon activity was normal over Jharkhand during the past 24 hours.

The highest rainfall of 25 mm was recorded at Maheshpur in Pakur district while Nandadih in Koderma district recorded 20 mm of rain.

Several other places including Jamtara, Daltonganj and Kolhan region witnessed light rain in the past 24 hours.

Weathermen at IMD's Regional Meteorological Centre at Alipore in Calcutta also ruled outv heavy showers in Jharkhand on August 15.

"We find no weather system over the Bay of Bengal or over the plains which may trigger heavy showers on August 15 ," said a duty officer at the Calcutta weather office.

So far, Jharkhand has received 586 mm rain against a normal of 655 mm, leading to a five per cent excess rain.