New Delhi, Mar 20 (Agency) The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday predicted moderate rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning, and hail over East India and a subsequent decrease from March 21 onwards. “Heavy rainfall with thunderstorm activity is expected over Northeast India, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, and Sikkim from today until March 23,” the IMD said.According to IMD, “scattered to fairly widespread moderate rainfall with isolated thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds is very likely over Gangetic West Bengal, Bihar, on March 20 and 21, and over Jharkhand and Odisha on March 20, with a gradual reduction thereafter.” Parts of Bihar, East Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Jharkhand are expected to witness hailstorms and heavy rainfall, whereas East Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, and Chhattisgarh are likely to witness isolated light to moderate rainfall today, the IMD said. It further predicted, “Isolated to scattered moderate rainfall with isolated thunderstorms and lightning over Telangana, coastal Andhra Pradesh, and Yanam for today and tomorrow.
“Fairly widespread to widespread moderate rainfall with isolated thunderstorms and lightning is very likely over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, and Sikkim till March 26,” the MeT department said.The weather department further said that under the influence of fresh western disturbances, scattered light rainfall or snowfall is very likely over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand till March 24. “Isolated light rainfall is likely over Punjab on March 21, 22, and 24, and over Haryana and West Uttar Pradesh on March 24. Isolated hailstorms are also very likely over these regions tomorrow,” the IMD said. Strong surface winds gusting up to 35 kmph will prevail over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh on March 21.