A Western Disturbance passing through northern parts of the country will trigger light to moderate rain over Jharkhand around the middle of this week, the weatherman said on Sunday.

Director of Ranchi Meteorological Centre S.D. Kotal said a Western Disturbance in north India coupled with moisture incursion from Bay of Bengal would impact Jharkhand’s weather on January 8 and 9.

“We are expecting generally cloudy sky with a possibility of light to moderate rain or thundershowers in isolated places of northern and central Jharkhand on January 8,” Kotal said.

Similar weather conditions are also expected in a few places in the districts of central and southern Jharkhand on January 9.

In a bulletin issued on Sunday afternoon, IMD’s Ranchi and Patna Meteorological Centres said dry weather would prevail in most parts of Jharkhand in the next two days with an abrupt fall in night temperature.

The night reading is expected to register 3-4°C fall in the next 48 hours. The Met department also issued an alert of shallow to moderate fog at a few places over Jharkhand in the next 24 hours.

Currently, the dry and crisp north-westerly wind, which results in a drop in minimum readings, are dominating over the state.

Data revealed that minimum readings in Ranchi and several other districts, including Daltonganj, Simdega, Khunti, Bokaro, Ramgarh, Dumka, Seraikela-Kharsawan and West Singhbhum, witnessed a fall in past 24 hours.

On Sunday, Ranchi recorded a minimum temperature of 10.8°C and Daltonganj 13.5°C.

The local IMD observatory in Jamshedpur on Sunday recorded a minimum of 16.2°C while Chaibasa in neighbouring West Singhbhum district recorded 14.6°C.

The minimum readings had witnessed a rise in most parts of the state in the last couple of days because of the formation of cloud. A trough coupled with a cyclonic circulation also resulted in light to moderate showers.