A girl with an umbrella on her way to school in Patna on Thursday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, Jan. 19: Cold and wet, January has lived up to its chilly reputation this year. After a brief warm interlude yesterday, clouds and rain returned to the city this morning.

The overcast conditions did not last very long though. The afternoon was pleasantly warm. Rain, however, is likely tomorrow, said met department officials.

Students once again were caught in the morning shower, which happened rather suddenly. “I left home as usual at 8.15am to catch the school bus. The rain happened suddenly and I was not carrying an umbrella. By the time the bus came, I was half drenched,” said Ishank Ravi, a Class XI student of Radiant International School.

He added: “The cold winds made me more uncomfortable. I felt better after the sun came out in the afternoon.”

Office goers, who started for work early, also suffered the onslaught of the inclement weather.

Kumar Purushottam, an executive of a private company, said: “I started for work around 8.30am. It was cloudy but I thought it wouldn’t rain. Much to my surprise, a steady shower had started by the time I reached Boring Road.”

Purushottam, a resident of Anandpuri, added: “In five minutes, it was raining very hard, and I had to take shelter under a tree for 10 minutes.”

Animesh Chanda, director, Patna met department, said rain started in the city around 8.45am and lasted around 15 minutes; 0.6mm precipitation was recorded. “Two other districts — Bhagalpur (5.9mm) and Purnea (1.9mm) — also received rainfall,” he said.

Chanda added that the cyclonic circulation that had developed over Bihar on Tuesday had now shifted to Jharkhand and its neighbouring regions. “It has also weakened considerably. So, you could expect only light rainfall in a few places in the state over the next 24 hours.”

Overcast condition had a considerable effect on the temperature in the state capital today.

On Tuesday, Chanda had predicted the rain-bear- ing clouds would increase the day temperature.

“The minimum temperature on Thursday morning was recorded at 13.2°C. It was five degrees above normal. The maximum temperature on the other hand, was recorded slightly below normal. The cloud cover is expected to weaken. So, both the minimum and the maximum temperature could rise from tomorrow,” said Chanda.

He added that though fog was unlikely, residents of the state could expect mist at some places early in the morning over the next few days.