Met: Hailstorms in state to continue for 24 hours

Some parts of Pune also received light showers. (Sandeep Daundkar)

While most parts of the state are witnessing hailstorm activity and some parts of the city receiving light showers in the past two days, the Met department has issued a forecast that the activity would continue for another day. 

“The Western Disturbance coming from Afghanistan has moved to the north of Maharashtra, bringing cold winds and at the same time the moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal has got in warm winds. These activities are resulting in hailstorm in the northern parts of Maharashtra. Though it is not very unusual, the high Western Disturbance activity has caused this and we have issued a forecast that it would continue only for the next 24 hours,’’ said a senior official of the India Meteorological Department.

Most parts of north Maharashtra have seen hailstorms, which have damaged the crops. “We would not call it unusual but because there are these systems, the hailstorm activity has occurred. We see this activity usually in April and May. This is happening a month earlier,’’ added the Met official.

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On Tuesday, the Met department recorded 15 degrees Celsius as minimum temperature, and said the mercury will dip further in the coming days.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had assessed the crop losses in 1,36,000 hectares spread across 94 talukas of 13 districts in the state after the hailstorms.