Nor’westers are about to bring wet cheer to residents reeling from extreme sultry conditions over the past few days. The Met office has forecast spells of thundershowers in the next 72 hours.

Most parts of the state have been experiencing highly hot and humid weather conditions with the maximum temperature in the state capital hovering around 41ºC over the past two days. On Friday, it marginally slid to 39.7ºC. The Patna Meteorological Centre attributed the fall in the mercury column to slight changes in the wind direction.

“The wind direction changed from easterly to cooler north-easterly in the morning,” said P.N. Chaudhary, a meteorologist at India Meteorological Department, Patna.

The capital did not see a single Nor’wester during March, April and May this year. Nor’westers hit the state when air over the Chotanagpur Plateau heats up and gains altitude with moisture support from an anti-cyclonic circulation or similar weather system in the Bay of Bengal.

“It is extremely sweaty and the air-conditioner is the saving grace. Cooking is the biggest headache. We have to take special care of children to prevent them from heatstroke,” said Tulika Sinha, a resident of SK Nagar.

Health experts claim the sultry condition is more harmful than high temperature conditions. “Humidity adversely affects the normal physiological balance or the internal mechanism of the human body. Consequently, viral infection, allergic manifestations and bacterial growth, among other ailments, are common in humid weather,” said Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, a physiology professor at Patna Medical College and Hospital.

Though the Celsius is hovering around the fretful 40ºC-mark in Patna, it is still far better than cities in northern and central India. The maximum temperature stood at 48.3ºC in Allahabad on Friday, 46.7ºC in Varanasi and 46ºC in Daltonganj in Jharkhand. Gaya, on the other hand, boiled at 42.6ºC.