Nagpurians, on Thursday, woke-up to witness the heaviest rainfall in May since 1966. The heavy downpour, 50 mm, with thunderstorm and lightning wreaked havoc in the second capital of Maharashtra as Nagpur recorded the highest rainfall in 24 hours in May in last 58 years. The city had recorded heaviest rainfall, 58.7 mm in 24 hours on May 5, 1966. The rainfall on Thursday was second highest in May, since 1966. Due to rains, hail and thunderstorm, the mercury has failed to dominate Nagpur summer this year. Nagpur experiences peak of summer in May as the city records highest temperature of the year. However, the maximum temperature in city hardly touched the 430 C mark in May, so far. Due to presence of moisture in the atmosphere, similar weather condition will prevail in the city till May 12, predicted India Meteorological Department (IMD). The maximum temperature in city will start rising again after May 14, it added.

 

According to IMD, during the month of May, the surface winds are generally North-Westerly but the South Westerly winds are dominating this year. Such condition is favourable for onset of early monsoon. Many experts are predicting early monsoon this year all over the country. Nagpur is also likely to witness the onset on of monsoon around June 12, three days early than the normal onset. As far as summer is concern, city’s maximum temperature will hardly cross the 430 C mark this year due to presence of moisture in coming days too. May is generally one of the driest months for the city with average highest and lowest relative humidity varying between 37% and 24%. But, this year, it is varying between 35% and 60% respectively. The average rainfall is 19.1 mm in May and number of rainy days are 1.7 only. But, on Thursday, the rainfall has already crossed the 50 mm mark and the rainy days have surpassed the normal number of days.

 

On Thursday, around 10 am the city skies turned dark which is a unique weather condition in May. Thereafter, thunderstorm with gusty winds above 40-50 kmph first caused damage all over the city. Many trees got uprooted while many areas witnessed power cuts. Thunderstorm was accompanied with heavy lightning followed by heavy rains for about two hours. Due to the heavy downpour, many areas in city witnessed water-logging. The sudden turn in the month’s weather on Thursday, the office-goers faced inconvenience due to heavy traffic-jam on many roads, especially at major junctions. The Fire and Emergency Department of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has a field day as it was busy attending calls about uprooting of trees and water-logging in low-lying areas.

 

Due to heavy rains, the water level of Naag river was increased for some time due to which the nearby residents got panicked. The Weather Department has issued ‘Yellow Alert’ all over Vidarbha for the next couple of days as thunderstorm, hailstorm with gusty winds may occur in many parts of the region while and some parts may also witness light to moderate rains. On Thursday, Chandrapur (32 mm) also recorded good rainfall followed by Gondia (19.4 mm). Akola once again witnessed dry weather due to which it was the hottest place in Vidarbha with maximum temperature at 43.20 C, on Thursday. Apart from Akola, all other places in Vidarbha witnessed overcast weather with maximum temperature below 400 C.