More thunderstorms, squall forecast for Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim, Jharkhand today

Several states and regions of the country will witness thunderstorms accompanied with squall (wind speed reaching 50¬70 kmph) and hail today (May 9). The states and regions where such weather conditions will develop are Bihar, Sub¬Himalayan West Bengal, Gangetic West Bengal, Sikkim and Jharkhand in the eastern part of India.

Thunderstorms accompanied with gusty winds will also hit isolated places over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, South Interior Karnataka, North Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Southern states will also have heavy rainfall. The areas where rainfall will take place include some regions of Tamil Nadu, South Interior Karnataka and Kerala.

Meanwhile, there will be no respite from the heat in many areas of the country. Heatwave conditions are likely to continue in one of two pockets over Vidarbha in Maharashtra, interior Odisha and western regions of Jharkhand.

On May 10 too, Sub¬-Himalayan West Bengal, Gangetic West Bengal and Sikkim will face the brunt of thunderstorms accompanied with squall (wind speed reaching 50-¬70 kmph). Some of the above areas are likely to see hail too. Some isolated pockets of Assam and Meghalaya will have heavy rainfall while heatwave conditions will continue over Vidarbha.

Several regions of North India were hit by dust storms, rain and thunder on Tuesday evening. In Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district at least 100 animals belonging to the 10 families of the Bakarwal community died in the hailstorm and heavy rains. According to Rajouri District Development Commissioner Shahid Iqbal Choudhary there was no immediate report of loss of human life.

The higher reaches of Uttarakhand including Kedarnath and Badrinath had snowfall on Monday night and Tuesday. There was landslide too in Lambagad which disrupted pilgrimage to the two shrines. Officials stopped devotees from moving beyond Linchauli and Bhimbali due to bad weather.

The trek route to Kedarnath was opened for the devotees later on Tuesday evening after the weather cleared up, Rudraprayag District Magistrate Mangesh Ghildiyal said. Over, 4,000 pilgrims safely returned to Gaurikund by the trek route after paying obeisance at Kedarnath despite bad weather, he said, adding that over 400 pilgrims are stranded at the shrine till Tuesday evening.