Jamshedpur, April 8: The steel city and its adjoining areas witnessed the Nor’wester in the evening today. The wind speed was �35 Kmph.� It lasted for about 20 minutes followed by �light showers. Jamshedpur encountered another storm past midnight which resulted in snapping of power supply in JBVNL command areas.
Chaibasa in West Singhbhum also experienced rains at the same time . Chaibasa recorded 8 mm of rain. A senior Met official confirmed it was a Nor’wester. The season’s first Nor’wester hit Jamshedpur , Ranchi , Gumla, Latehar and several other places last night, resulting in thundershowers activity.
Met office sources said thunderstorms with wind speed reaching upto 40kph lashed some places and coupled with rain, brought down maximum temperatures by one to two degrees.
Meanwhile, weather analysts said the Nor�wester phenomenon occurred a little late this year.
�Usually, the first storm strikes in mid-March. But this year, it has been late. Absence of a storm forced the state to endure dry westerly winds that pushed up day temperatures several notches above normal,� said a source at the regional meteorological centre at Alipore in Calcutta.
According to the Alipore centre, districts like Bankura, Birbhum and Midnapore in Bengal, which share a border with Jharkhand, did not experience any rain or thunderstorm till late evening.
The centre has also forecast rains and thunderstorm at some isolated places in Jharkhand over the next 48 hours. Meanwhile, the presence of cumulus-nimbus clouds in the evening forced the Jamshedpur civic guardians to switch on streetlights at least two hours before schedule today.
�Usually, streetlights are switched on around 5.30pm, but with the skies turning dark early, we had to switch on the lights at around 3.30pm,� said a Jusco official.
