Going through one of the hottest Aprils this year, the State received a breather in the form of a cloud system which has been developing in the Bay of Bengal, resulting in clouds covering most of the afternoon Jharkhand sky on Wednesday.
But this will only be a temporary relief, stated U Shrivastava, Forecast Officer, State Meteorological Department. The system is not so strong that the moisture it has will reach Jharkhand which might cause rains in coming days, he added.
“The system has an extension of only 0.9 km and is not very strong either. Expectations of rains in recent times are low at best as the clouds over Jharkhand will be cleared by evening today or tomorrow morning. Following this, there will be plenty of sunlight and heat. Even today, areas of Palamu and Garhwa experienced hot days with high humidity levels,” said Shrivastava.
The only long term relief of the recent development is that it will put a stop on the continuously rising mercury levels in the state. “Average temperatures have risen by five to six degrees around the State and have come down by around one degree due to the system in Bay of Bengal. This will hold constant and there will be no further rise in temperatures anytime soon either,” said U Shrivastava.
The Western Disturbance will not lose steam though and will continue to keep the State hot for the term of the summer, it seems. “The winds coming in from the desert in Rajasthan and plains in Punjab are hot in nature and flow towards South-Southeast direction. These winds are responsible for the high temperatures every year,” said Shrivastava.
Forecasting that the Western Disturbance will prevail in coming days, he further added, “Although temperatures will not rise by much, there are chances of heat waves in few part of the State. Indications are that around half of the State will experience hot winds blowing through for the next 48 hours.”
But all of this will not translate into Ranchi’s climate changing for the worse, assured met experts. Although the summer had a hot start this year, it will still be well short of a recording breaking one.
“I have been asked in recent days whether Ranchi is looking at crossing all recorded levels of temperatures during summer. It is not likely to happen, I believe. The highest temperature recorded in the month of April is 42.6 degrees in the year 1999. Although we have touched the 40 degrees mark early this year, it is not likely to climb any further this month,” said Shrivastava.