The season's seventh and this month's first Nor'wester, triggered by a cyclonic circulation hovering over north-west Madhya Pradesh hit several parts of Jharkhand including Jamshedpur and Ranchi on Sunday afternoon.

The storm accompanied by lightning and thunderous activity swept across several parts of Jharkhand with a wind speed of 40-45 kmph.

The affected districts were Deoghar, Dumka, West Singhbhum, Ranchi, Ramgarh, Bokaro, Chatra, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, Giridih, Hazaribagh, Jamtara and Khunti.

On Friday, a similar Nor'wester - the season's sixth - had hit Jamshedpur, Ranchi and several other places resulting in widespread lightning and thunderstorms.

The steel city and its adjoining areas -- Ghatshila and Chaibasa encountered the Nor'wester around 2.45 pm. The wind speed was around 45 Kmph. The storm and moderate showers lasted for about 20 minutes.

The Nor'wester had first hit several places in north-eastern and central Jharkhand before moving towards the south in Kolhan region.

Ranchi and its adjoining areas experienced light showers while several places in southern Jharkhand including Jamshedpur witnessed moderate rain.

Weathermen at IMD's Ranchi Meteorological Centre extended the rainfall and thunderstorm alert for another four days till May 6.

"Partly cloudy sky with possibility of light to moderate rain is expected in various parts of Jharkhand for another four days, "said a duty officer at Ranchi.

The Met centre also issued an alert of lightning for the next 72 hours.

Met statistics revealed that maximum temperature in most places across Jharkhand has come down below the average normal due to the Nor'wester activity for the last few days.

Like Friday, Sunday's Nor'wester too damaged overhead cables several Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL ) serviced areas in Kolhan and other places.