Most areas of Pune city reported light rain on Tuesday, with a temperature of 29.3 degrees Celsius and overcast skies. Haze was prominent through the day, cutting visibility short on Christmas Eve. As per Met, the city received trace amounts of rainfall. Decade-long rainfall data, maintained by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), indicates that Pune city has reported rainfall only three times in December since 2009. This means that rain during this month is considered rare, given that atmospheric conditions are generally extremely dry, under the influence of cold winds blowing from north India — a phenomenon that has been absent since the start of this winter. Even as north India is presently under the grip of a severe cold wave since the weekend, cold winds have, so far, not influenced much of the weather in regions of central India, including Maharashtra, as they normally would in December. According to IMD officials, parts of Madhya Maharashtra, will experience warm and wet days till December 27. “This is mainly because of the continuous inflow of moist winds — both from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal over Maharashtra. As a result, their confluence has brought in moisture over the region, which, in turn, has given way to overcast skies and isolated rain. Similar weather condition is expected for the next two days,” an official from IMD said. In the continuing trend of a warm winter this year, most cities in the state experienced above normal temperatures on Tuesday. Like Pune, some cities reported warm weather, including Kolhapur (19.6 degrees), Sangli (19.3 degrees), Beed (19 degrees), Jalgaon and Solapur (18.6 degrees Celsius each). Parts of Vidarbha were relatively cold on Tuesday, and Gondiya remained the coldest city, recording a temperature of 14.4 degrees Celsius. Officials of the Regional Meteorological Department, Mumbai, said that interior parts of Maharashtra may experience a drop in night temperatures. “Northern parts of Maharashtra are likely to experience significant chill, starting Thursday, while rest of the state may see temperatures falling gradually towards the end of the month,” an official said.
