Unseasonal rain, along with strong wind, lashed at least five districts, damaging standing crops just ahead of the harvest season, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Tuesday. The CM took stock of the situation and directed officials to conduct panchnamas or assessments of the losses suffered by farmers, an official release said. Besides Thane and Palghar, several parts of Washim, Nashik and Aurangabad districts witnessed strong winds and rain, which damaged crops just when the harvest season is around the corner, Shinde said. He directed the revenue department to immediately conduct panchnama of losses incurred by agriculturists. For the last 24 hours, several parts of Maharashtra have been experiencing light to heavy unseasonal rainfall, with Dhule and Nashik also reporting hailstorm. Mumbai and some of its adjoining areas, meanwhile, experienced light rainfall from the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, which lasted till the morning. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday issued an orange alert for Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Beed, Jalna, Parbhani and Amravati for the next 24 hours. It also issued a yellow alert for Pune,Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Satara, Nasik, Jalgaon, Nanded, Yavatmal, Wardha and Nagpur. As per IMD, Aurangabad received the highest rainfall of 7 mm in the last 24 hours, followed by Nasik (6 mm), Dahanu (5 mm), in Shivaji Nagar in Pune (4 mm) and Malegaon and Nanded (1 mm each). Officials said on Tuesday, Mumbai experienced a drizzle, which couldn't reach the required measuring level at its two observatories at Santacruz and Colaba. Some of the rainfall measuring stations in Mumbai recorded showers below 1 mm. Jogeshwari recorded 0.5 mm of rain, followed by Andheri at 0.25 mm. Sushma Nair, scientist from IMD Mumbai, said that Maharashtra is experiencing unseasonal rain due to easterly and westerly disturbances. "This kind of rainfall is not abnormal, because usually the months of March, April and May are known to be the period for pre-monsoon rain. This year, there is an interaction of dry and wet wind in the form of westerlies and easterlies and whenever such kind of phenomenon occurs, there is rainfall. Also, a trough has developed in the Konkan region.,” Nair said. "It is unlikely for Mumbai to see more rain now as the showers started from Palghar yesterday and is now shifting diagonally towards Ratnagiri," she added. On Monday, at 39.3 degrees Celsius, Mumbai had recorded the highest temperature for this year so far. Owing to the rainfall, however, the day temperature dipped on Tuesday, as IMD's Santacruz observatory recorded 35.8 degrees Celsius, two degrees above normal. The city recorded a night temperature of 24.5 degrees Celcius. Meanwhile, videos and photographs of hailstorm surfaced in the social media with people claiming that Gorai and Thane had witnessed hailstorms. However, IMD officials said there is no forecast or possibility of hailstorm in or around Mumbai. WITH PTI INPUTS
