The India Meteorological Department has forecast widespread rainfall, thunderstorms, hailstorms and gusty winds across several parts of the country over the coming days, with active weather conditions expected to persist till March 21.According to the latest All India Weather Summary, fairly widespread to widespread light to moderate rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning is likely over Northeast India for the next five days. Isolated heavy rainfall has been forecast over states including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, and the Nagaland-Manipur-Mizoram-Tripura region, particularly in the early part of the forecast period.
All India Weather Bulletin
In Northwest India, a fresh western disturbance is expected to trigger a wet spell between March 18 and 20, bringing rainfall and snowfall to the Western Himalayan region. Isolated heavy precipitation is likely over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu & Kashmir during this period. The plains, including Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan, may witness scattered rainfall along with thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds reaching 40–50 kmph on March 19 and 20.
Hailstorm activity has also been forecast in parts of North India during this time.Across East and Central India, states such as West Bengal, Sikkim, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Vidarbha are likely to experience scattered to fairly widespread rainfall with thunderstorms and gusty winds between March 17 and 21. Strong winds, with speeds reaching up to 70 kmph, are likely in parts of eastern India around March 20–21, along with isolated hailstorm activity.Amid this broader weather activity, Bengaluru experienced a sudden spell of rain on Monday evening, bringing relief from the recent heat. The city has witnessed heavy rainfall almost an hour and a half after 7 pm, along with hail in some places. The same weather conditions were experienced in other places of Karnataka, like Dabaspet, where 24.4 mm of rainfall was recorded, and Chamarajanagar, where hailstorms were accompanied by thunderstorms.
The IMD has indicated that such conditions are likely to continue across interior Karnataka, including Bengaluru, over the next few days.In South Peninsular India, including Telangana, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, isolated to scattered rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms and gusty winds (30–50 kmph) is expected till March 21. The department has also warned of lightning activity across several southern states.Western India is also likely to witness weather activity, with isolated rainfall and thunderstorms predicted over Maharashtra till March 19, and Gujarat and Goa between March 18 and 19.The IMD has issued an alert of hailstorms in various places, including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and central India, during the forecast period. Thundersqualls, with wind speeds reaching 60-70 kmph, are expected at isolated places, especially in Uttarakhand and eastern India.Temperature Trends: The temperature trend shows that the maximum temperature is expected to rise in Northwest India, followed by a drop of 5-7 degrees Celsius during the following days. Central and southern parts of the country are also expected to see a gradual fall in temperatures due to the ongoing rainfall activity.While no major warnings have been issued beyond March 21, the IMD stated that active weather conditions are likely to persist across several regions in the short term, keeping much of the country under the influence of unstable atmospheric systems.
