Gloomy weather and rain might play party pooper on the first day of 2020.

The Ranchi Meteorological Centre on Sunday issued a forecast of generally cloudy sky with possibility of light to moderate rain or thundershowers at a few places especially in the districts of north-west and central Jharkhand on January 1 while the forecast for January 2 predicted generally cloudy sky with light to moderate rain at many places.

“We are expecting cloud cover with possibility of light to moderate showers on January 1 and 2 due to the impact of a western disturbance coupled with heavy moisture incursion into the atmosphere due to dominating easterlies in the lower level of the atmosphere,” said Abhishek Anand, a senior India Meteorological Department (IMD) scientist at the Ranchi Met Centre. “The outlook for the subsequent two days (January 3 and 4) suggests decrease in rainfall activity.”

He said the prevailing cold-wave conditions were expected to continue in several pockets of the state.

“Currently, Jharkhand is in the grip of a cold wave which is expected to last for another 48 hours,” he said adding that mist in the morning and fog would prevail for the next two days.

Cold-wave conditions prevailed in several parts of the state, specially south-western and northern parts of Jharkhand, for the third consecutive day on Sunday. Moderate fog was also reported from various places.

On Saturday, several cities across Jharkhand had recorded the season’s coldest day.

Ranchi on Sunday recorded a minimum temperature of 5.5°C, around five notches below normal. On Saturday, the state capital had the coldest day of the season with the mercury nosediving to 4.7°C.

Jamshedpur recorded a minimum temperature of 7.8°C, slightly warmer than Saturday’s 7.2°C and three notches below normal.

Daltonganj on Sunday recorded a minimum temperature of 6.2°C , three notches below normal. On Saturday, , the Palamau district headquarters shivered at 4.7°C.

A severe cold-wave condition prevailed in Bokaro on Sunday as the night readings plummeted to 5.1°C, seven notches below normal. On Saturday, Bokaro had recorded a minimum of 5.6°C.

Chaibasa in neighbouring West Singhbhum, Dumka, Jamtara, Dhanbad, Deoghar, Pakur and Koderma on Sunday recorded minimum readings between 6°C and 7°C, three to four points below normal.

Weathermen said night readings would witness an upward trend after December 31 due to formation of clouds and moisture incursion into the atmosphere while day readings were expected to fall.