After enduring sweltering heat for several days, residents of Ranchi rejoiced as a nearly two-hour downpour brought relief on Thursday. The city recorded 40.6 mm of rainfall, accompanied by strong winds and thunderstorms, ahead of the monsoon's expected arrival this weekend.
Rain and Its Impact
The showers inundated several parts of the city, including the area near Ranchi railway station. Strong winds uprooted trees at multiple locations on Club Road and Kutchery Chowk, briefly disrupting vehicular movement and power supply in some neighbourhoods. Fortunately, no casualties were reported.
Flight operations at Birsa Munda Airport remained unaffected during the rainy spell, except for a Jamshedpur-bound chartered flight that was diverted to Ranchi, according to airport director Vinod Kumar.
Rainfall in Other Areas
On Thursday, Jamshedpur recorded 11 mm of rain, Chaibasa 10 mm, and Jagannathpur in West Singhbhum 15 mm.
Monsoon Forecast and Orange Alert
Abhishek Anand, deputy director of the Ranchi IMD office, stated that the southwest monsoon is likely to hit the state by Saturday or Sunday. “An orange alert has been issued for thunderstorm and lightning along with strong winds gusting up to 50-60 kmph at isolated places over Dhanbad, Bokaro, Koderma, Hazaribag, Ranchi, Khunti and Ramgarh districts on Friday and Saturday,” he added.
The extended range forecast issued by the IMD's Ranchi office predicts that the state is likely to record normal to above normal maximum temperatures in the range of 31-40°C from June 12 to 18. Similarly, normal to above normal maximum temperatures are expected from June 19 to 25, with daytime temperatures likely to lie in the range of 33-40°C during the week.
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