Rickshaw commuters caught in the downpour on Frazer Road in Patna on Thursday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, May 19: The citizens of the capital got a pleasant surprise this morning — dense clouds and drizzles. After a good night’s sleep in balmy temperature following last evening’s gusty winds, it was double delight for them.

Patna Met department attributed the sudden change in weather to pre-monsoon cyclonic circulation over Jharkhand and Bihar.

“Development of convective clouds resulted in gusty north-westerly winds in the city on Wednesday at 7.40pm. The velocity of the wind was 67km per hour. It reduced the temperature by 7°C during that period. While traces of rainfall was recorded in the city on Thursday morning, other parts of the state experienced higher rainfall,” Animesh Chandra, the director of Patna Met department, said.

The morning showers surprised the residents of Purnea (32.2 mm), Dehri-on-Sone (9.2 mm), Chhapra (11mm), Motihari (16mm), Forbesgunj (54.4 mm), Supaul (8.6mm) and Muzaffarpur (28.6 mm).

The sudden change in weather came as a big relief after a long spell of scorching heat.

“The heat in the past few days was unbearable. The breezy winds and rain have revitalised us. I got a sound sleep after many days and the morning was also very refreshing with cloud cover and cool air,” Pratyush Kumar, a resident of Patel Nagar, said.

Chandra said: “The temperatures in the past few days were recorded above normal in and around Patna. But the formation of convective clouds led to relative fall in day temperature in the past two days. Yesterday, the maximum temperature was 36°C, two degrees below normal. The after-effects of the gusty winds on Wednesday night pulled down mercury column on Thursday morning to 23.8°C.”

The Met department director, however, cautioned the city residents that the relief from summer was temporary. Chandra said the mercury column would soar again once the clouds disperse and sun comes beating down The temperature is likely to soar from Friday.

Last evening, several people were caught unawares amid sudden gusty winds. People were seen looking for shelter, especially those on two- wheelers. Dust particles made travelling tough.

As the velocity of the wind was very high, power supply tripped in several areas of the city last evening. The Patna district control room received emergency calls regarding snapped electric wires and electrocuted electric poles, leading to electrocution of stray animals.

The storm hit air traffic movement also. Air India’s Delhi-Patna-Delhi flight (AI 415/416) had to be diverted to Calcutta because of the bad weather. It developed technical snags there, leading to further delay.

The flight was scheduled to arrive at Patna airport at 8.10pm. But it touched down here finally at 2.30am and departed at 3am this morning.

Another flight that got delayed because of the bad weather was Jet Airway’s (9W 2854/ 2855) flight on Calcutta-Patna route. It arrived at 9.15pm on Wednesday. Its scheduled arrival time was 8.25pm.

The flight delays and commuting troubles hardly had any bearing on people, though. They were not complaining at all. Most of the city residents were upbeat about the surprise rain and squall.