Pune: Winds from Goa and Konkan keep temperature low

PUNE: Citizens heaved a sigh of relief on Wednesday as the Met department recorded the maximum temperature at Shivajinagar almost two degrees below normal, though the forecast was that the mercury might be north-bound.
Though the day’s temperature at Shivajinagar was 35.8°C, 1.9 notches below normal, Lohegaon was relatively hot at 36.9°C.

Till 8.30pm, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) did not record any rainfall in the city.However, there were some traces of rain in parts of the district. Overcast conditions prevailed in various parts of the city, especially in the afternoon and early evening hours.
Heatwave-like temperatures prevailed over some parts of Vidarbha and such conditions were expected for the next 24 hours, IMD officials said. The IMD also sustained its official heatwave warnings. Over the next 48-72 hours, Met officials, said the heatwave conditions would prevail only in isolated parts of Vidarbha.
The IMD has also lowered its temperature outlook for the rest of the week, with 38°C being the highest level the mercury is expected to reach over the weekend.
Senior Met officials attributed Wednesday’s temperatures to the colder winds coming into the region’s atmosphere, coupled with rainfall in some parts of Goa and the Konkan coast.
“There are chances of rain in isolated parts of Konkan and Goa in the next 24 hours. Colder winds, including the westerly and north-westerly winds, are coming into the region from these areas. Pune’s temperature was slightly below normal because of the city’s proximity to the Konkan-Goa region,” Anupam Kashyapi, head of weather at IMD Pune, told TOI.
He added that the traces of rain were recorded in the evening and the afternoon in the rural parts of the district. He said, “There was some cumulous cloud cover in Daund, Baramati, Indapur and the eastern part of Shirur. The patch of weather just escaped the city. We expect traces of rain in these parts on Thursday too, but not in Pune city.”
Kashyapi said there was “about a 50% chance or less” of rainfall in the city between May 11 and 13, along with other parts of central Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha.