A nip in the air has been felt during early morning and late evening hours in most parts of Jharkhand during the past 24 hours or so, suggesting that winter is round the corner.

Minimum temperatures in various parts of the state have seen a dip of almost 3°C, now ranging between 14°C to 19°C.

Attributing the climatic change to the dominating northerly winds, coupled with the dry and clear weather conditions, IMD's Ranchi Met Centre stated that in the next 72-hours, temperatures will further witness a drop of 2-3°C in several parts of Jharkhand, including state capital Ranchi.

Residents in most parts of the state on Friday woke up to a comparatively pleasant morning. Dry weather prevailed over Jharkhand. The lowest minimum temperature of 14.1°C was recorded at Bokaro. Chaibasa in neighbouring West Singhbhum district recorded 14.4°C while Daltonganj recorded 14.9 °C.

Capital Ranchi recorded a minimum temperature of 15.2 °C while Jamshedpur recorded 17.7 °C.

Minimum readings of 15 degree Celsius to 16 degree Celsius were recorded at Deoghar, Godda, Pakur and several other places of Santhal Parganas.

"The wind pattern over the state has changed. It is fluctuating between northerly and westerly. Usually, such wind patterns lead to a fall in minimum readings," said Abhishek Anand, head of IMD's Ranchi Meteorological Centre.

Weathermen at IMD's Regional Met Centre at Alipore in Calcutta issued a forecast of dry weather over Jharkhand for the next 72 hours. " Weather conditions will be dry with a clear sky over Jharkhand during the next few days. In Friday's satellite and other Met observations we found no adverse weather system which would impact Jharkhand's weather during the next 72 hours," said a duty officer.