PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, March 29: The rise in mercury will continue to torment Jharkhand for another one week or so as the summer saviour Nor’wester is expected to remain elusive till the first week of April, said IMD officials on Tuesday.
“Thunderstorms aided by Nor’westers are likely only around April 6-7,” said Abhishek Anand, head of IMD’s Ranchi Met Centre after today’s air chart analysis.
On why is the Nor’wester playing truant the senior IMD official explained that lack of moisture incursion into the lower layers of the atmosphere was preventing the formation of a conducive system over the Chotanagpur plateau for the birth of a Nor’wester.
“Nor’wester activity usually starts around mid- March. But, this year so far no Nor’wester activity took place in Jharkhand. The dry north-westerly wind is remaining dominant over the state and this was preventing moisture incursion,” he explained.
The absence of moisture was evident from humidity levels, which dipped below 50 per cent in most places. Jamshedpur and its adjoining areas recorded a humidity of around 48 per cent on Saturday while Ranchi recorded 31 per cent.
Such low levels of humidity don’t help in triggering Nor’wester activity, explained weather department officials.
Last year Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Seraikela, Chaibasa, Hazaribagh and Daltonganj had experienced at least two Nor’westers by March 25.
The stormy activities usually begin from mid-March and continue till the end of May.
Nor’wester or Kalbaisakhi in local parlance usually takes place due to excessive heating of land coupled with heavy moisture.
A single Nor’wester can drag the temperature down and keep it so for three days. The Chotanagpur plateau region is one of the genesis areas of Nor’westers.
This year, the situation is unusual. There is no sign of Nor’wester activity so far. Most parts of the state are experiencing a prolonged spell of above-normal maximum temperatures for the past one week.
A climate analyst at IMD’s Patna Met Centre said dry weather is expected to prevail over Jharkhand for the next few days.
IMD has also issued a forecast of heatwaves in the north-western and southern parts of Jharkhand for three days from today.
Weather department officials described the prevailing condition as abnormal. “This is the season of Nor’wester but Jharkhand hasn’t experienced even one till now. We are now expecting Nor’wester activity sometime in the first week of April,” said a senior Met official at IMD’s Ranchi centre.
