Several parts of Madhya Pradesh received rains on Wednesday night, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting heavy showers and lightning in several areas on Thursday.
The overnight spells of rain brought relief from the scorching heat in MP that was sizzling at over 40 degrees Celsius. Mercury dropped to a pleasant 20 degrees in the Khargone district on Thursday morning.
Such weather is likely to prevail for three more days in the state, said IMD’s Bhopal Centre duty officer JP Vishwakarma. Thunderstorm with lightning and gusty winds reaching the speed of 30 to 40 kilometres per hour is “very likely to occur at isolated places of Madhya Pradesh”, IMD’s yellow alert for Thursday read.
“What is happening in MP is the remnant of Cyclone Biparjoy,” IMD's Bhopal Centre Director R Balasubramanian told PTI. IMD senior meteorologist Ved Prakash Singh said that heavy rain with lightning is likely to continue in parts of the Bundelkhand region, including Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Panna, Niwari districts and Datia in northern MP.
He said moderate thundershowers with lightning are expected over Sagar, Damoh, Raisen, Guna, Shivpur, Ashok Nagar and Gwalior districts. Light thunderstorm with lightning is expected in Bhopal, Neemuch, Mandsaur, Bhind, Morena, Sheopur, Vidisha, Sehore, east Rajgarh, Satna, Katni, Jabalpur and Mandla district, he said.
Vishwakarma said that the maximum temperature in MP has dipped by three to five degrees Celsius and the minimum by one to two degrees. According to IMD, Datia district received 61 mm of rain in the 24 hours up to 8.30 am on Thursday.
Damoh, Mandla, Satna, Nowgaon in Chhatarpur, Raisen, Khajurahao in Chhatarpur, and Gwalior received 25.6, 11.2, 11.0, 8, 7.2, 5.4 and 3.7 mm rainfall respectively in 24 hours.