A heavy downpour accompanied by hail lashed parts of Hyderabad on Thursday, which came as a relief to several residents of the city, who were staying indoors amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several residents took to social media and said that there was hail in their locality and were sharing pictures and videos. Areas such as Banjara Hills, Tarnaka, Begumpet, Habsiguda, Lalapet, Nacharam, Mallapur witnessed hailstorms.
Weather experts stated that the hailstom activity was due to an extending trough.
"A trough is extending from East Madhya Pradesh to South Interior Karnataka and Telangana. Simultaneously an anticyclone is also present over Bay of Bengal. Due to this, south easterly humid winds are resulting in moisture over Telangana and coastal Andhra Pradesh. The combined effect of trough and anticyclone has resulted in thunder showers and hailstorms," Mahesh Palawat from Skymet, an independent weather forecasting agency, told TNM.
Hail Strom in Banjara Hills pic.twitter.com/YtHyLzlAuy
— Karthik (@Prabhas_MAN) March 19, 2020
Hail storm in Hyderabad omg pic.twitter.com/FeKuBCzkYm
— Hana (@MissAmericHANA) March 19, 2020
Heavy Rain+Wind+Ice Cubes#HyderabadRains@Rajani_Weather @pavanpuli1234 pic.twitter.com/5yAHaImJL6
— (@rajkumar1426) March 19, 2020
#Hyderabad witnesses its first summer rain. From light to moderate rain in parts of Hyderabad. #Hyderabadrains #GoCoronaCoronaGo pic.twitter.com/d9Etr7PDuI
— Abdul Khadeer (@makbaig) March 19, 2020
There was a light to moderate rainfall recorded in several parts of the city and in the state, including the districts of Jangaon, Nalgonda, Medak and Medchal-Malkajgiri.
The highest rainfall was recorded at Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district at 34 mm where as Hyderabad recorded the highest rainfall at Tirumalagiri with 23.3 mm, as per the data provided by Telangana State Planning Development Society (TSPDS).
In contrast, on the same day, temperatures were also close to 40 degrees Celsius in the state as Wanaparthy recorded a maximum temperature of 39.4 degrees Celsius at Pebbair mandal and 39.3 degrees Celsius in Atmakur mandal.
The maximum and minimum temperatures recorded in the city on Thursday were 36 degrees and 24.4 degrees respectively, according to the Indian Meterology Department (IMD)
As per the IMD forecast, light to moderate rainfall accompanied by thunderstorm is very likely to occur at isolated places over Telangana till March 23, 2020.