Rainy Christmas in parts of Maharashtra: IMD

For instance, night temperature in Pune fell to 13 degrees Celsius on Thursday and increased to 14 degrees Celsius on Friday, which was 3 degrees Celsius above normal for December.

Some of the cities that reported normal December night temperatures on Friday included Chandrapur (10.9 degrees Celsius), Ahmednagar (12.1 degrees Celsius), Nashik and Gondia (13 degrees Celsius each), Mahabaleshwar (13.9 degrees Celsius) and Parbhani (14.1 degrees Celsius).

But warm and moist winds blowing over Maharashtra, both from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, are likely to cause rainfall in the coming days.

“Interaction between easterly and westerly winds is expected to occur over Maharashtra between December 22 and December 24.

As a result, there will be overcast sky conditions and rainfall in isolated areas in Konkan and Madhya Maharashtra on these days. Rainfall activity over Madhya Maharashtra will continue even on December 25 and on the same day, northern Marathwada and Vidarbha will also experience some light rain,” said Anupam Kashyapi, head of the weather department in IMD, Pune.

This week, Maharashtra finally started experienced winter-like weather, after a series of anti-cyclone systems prevented incoming cold winds from the northern plains in the days before.

“Though these systems have not completely moved away, clear sky conditions locally have influenced local weather, which is why temperatures fell during the last two days,” explained IMD officials.

Meanwhile, the country is experiencing its first cold wave spell this season, in parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and northern Madhya Pradesh.

This year, IMD had forecast a warmer than usual winter season for central India and southern peninsular regions.

“We expect the days to remain cooler than usual but there will not be any significant drop in night temperatures till December 26 over Maharashtra,” added Kashyapi.