1.4mm rain, cloudy skies bring down mercury in Indore

Indore: The city recorded a sharp dip in both day and night temperatures on Friday after a spell of rain accompanied by thunder and strong winds lashed Indore late on Thursday night. Cloudy conditions persisted through the day, keeping the mercury well below recent levels.The maximum temperature on Friday settled at 30.2 degrees Celsius, six degrees below normal, marking a significant fall from the heat recorded earlier this week. The minimum temperature dropped to 15 degrees Celsius, down by more than three degrees compared to Thursday night, when it stood at 18.4 degrees Celsius.The city remained overcast since Thursday morning, though rainfall occurred only late at night. Around 10 pm, weather conditions changed abruptly as strong winds began sweeping across the city, followed by thunder, lightning and steady rainfall. The rain continued intermittently until around 1 am, with gusty winds persisting even afterwards.The western part of the city recorded 1.4 mm rainfall, while the eastern region reported 5.6 mm of rainfall during the same period. Wind speeds during the storm remained significant, with gusts reaching up to 41 kmph.Across west Madhya Pradesh, stronger winds were recorded, including 74 kmph in Agar and 46 kmph in Barwani.The impact of the system was widespread, with thunderstorms and rainfall reported across all districts of Indore division and several other parts of the state. Hailstorms were also recorded in districts including, Alirajpur, Barwani, Khandwa and parts of central and eastern Madhya Pradesh.Met officials said the current system has now moved eastwards and is unlikely to have a major impact on western parts of the state, including Indore, in the coming days. Meteorologist at IMD Bhopal Divya Surendran said there will be no major change in weather conditions over the next two days. "A gradual rise in maximum temperature by three to five degrees is expected thereafter," she said.