A twist in the weather was just what the Nagpurians were longing for to give some respite from high temperature and the nature God quickly came to their rescue. For second day in succession, the city got relief from hot weather as rain God showered its bounty. While on Saturday the strong winds and rains accompanied with hail was limited to some parts, on Sunday, entire city reported showers. Citizens reported that hail fell in Reshimbagh and Sakkardara area during afternoon. But at other places in city, it was normal rains that led to formation of puddles at uneven and low-lying point on the road network. Earlier in the day, there was no inclination as such of any heavy swing in the weather but by 3 pm suddenly, clouds formed and rains started pounding the city.

 

Even on Saturday, the rains began in the night and it was uneven as few places witnessed heavy downpour but most part of city remained dry. In the process, mercury shed a few points and dropped by nearly three degree Celsius to below 40 degrees Celsius. Since past few weeks, the sun was shining bright and citizens were talking about normal summer this year. Particularly during last year the month of April and even in May, the city withered with chilly winds on back of heavy downpour. During the past 24 hours, the weather office data mentioned that city recorded just 1.3 mm rainfall and on Sunday it was 5 mm upto 5.30 pm. Rains in Eastern Vidarbha helped bring down the mercury, giving relief to people who were at wits’ end due to simmering high temperature. The formation of a cylonic situation in Bay of Bengal cast its shadow in the region brining in rains.

 

What was more devastating was the squall winds at places in the city with speed upwards of 50 km/hr ripping out whatever came its way. Eastern Vidarbha reeled under climate change, in the plains of Western Vidarbha however it was normal summer with no change in the atmosphere. Even Chandrapur too did not witness any rains, which was mostly confined to Gadchiroli, Gondia, Nagpur and to some extent in Brahmapuri. Gadchiroli district received widespread rainfall during the 24 hours and it was recorded at 62.4 mm. At other places the rainfall was in single digit. But the squall caused some limited damage, mostly to hoarding that could not withstand the strong wind pressure. Gusty winds has been battering the hoarding during the summer this year.

 

The disturbance in the weather was due to cylonic formation due to excessive heat. However the drop in temperature came in handy for revellers to enjoy the outing on the weekend. The drop in temperature due to good rainfall in the rural parts brought in chill, providing a scenic and hill station like atmosphere feel for the denizens who relished in it. During the past week, the city witnessed two to three instances of dust storm giving indicating of impending swing. The Saturday rain only added to discomfort, though the night temperature dipped a bit. But Sunday morning was as usual quite hot and citizens were bracing for yet another sunny day, till the twist in the tale, as they say, occurred in the afternoon. The weather update for next two to three days said that disturbances with isolated incidents of thunderstorm and rains could continue till May 8. But the day temperature may continue to increase from May 7 onwards. 

 

 

The green nets put-up by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) could not withstand the wind pressure and came crashing down at many places. At Tukdoji Square the green shade blocked the road coming from Manewada side. People had a tough time finding their way through the mess on the road. The bamboo sticks to which the nets does not have ability to bear the wind pressure as they are not pitched inside the road.

 

These nets were put up temporary purpose to ensure citizens standing at signal can get respite from the shining Sun during the afternoon time when it becomes unbearably hot. The squares at city are wide open space and when the wind starts blowing, the nets cannot bear the pressure and the bamboo ultimately fell down. Fortunately as it was Sunday there was not much traffic on the roads and hence no one was injured. A similar incident had occurred at GPO Square a few days back in aftermath of the storm.