Untimely rains, storms take India by surprise

The country witnessed the rainiest day of this winter with almost all parts receiving showers, the weatherman said, attributing it to a series of weather conditions. Moderate rainfall will also occur in the next 24 hours across the country, including several parts of North India, the Indian Meteorological Department said.

"Almost the entire country from the southern peninsula, parts of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi and even Bengaluru has witnessed rain. This is the rainiest day of the winter season,” said G P Sharma, vice president of Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency.

"Multiple weather systems have caused widespread rain in the country in the past 24 hours. The last 24 hours are easily the rainiest day of this winter," he said. He said a series of weather systems have come together to bring rain and hailstorms in different parts of the country. While a fresh western disturbance is affecting the hilly states of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh, a cyclonic circulation is causing rain in Haryana, Rajasthan and adjoining areas.

Moreover, another system is affecting Gujarat and adjoining areas of Rajasthan.
"Some areas recorded moderate to heavy rainfall, others witnessed light to moderate showers. Bikaner in Rajasthan recorded 21-mm rain, Ahmedabad 19-mm, Rajkot 13-mm, Jabalpur 21-mm, Satna 27-mm, Akola 18-mm, Mumbai 7-mm, Lucknow 7-mm, Goa 30-mm, and Belgaum 21-mm."

"Light rain was also observed in Gaya which received 1-mm rainfall. Interestingly, even dry areas such as Kutch received some unusual March rain," Skymet said. "Heavy rainfall snow and rainfall would occur at isolated places in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in the next 24 hours."

Heavy rainfall would also occur in Punjab, Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh while some places in Vidhrbha, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh would also see thunderstorm, accompanied with hailstorm," the IMD said.