Dark clouds gather over Jagdeopath-Rukkanpura rail overbridge around 11am on Sunday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Overcast skies and cool winds made the perfect romantic Sunday morning for residents in the run-up to the festive season even as Bollywood heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor breezed through the city.

The temporary but much-needed spell of respite from last week’s sultry conditions would continue for another day or two. The rain gauge at the local Met office at Patna airport recorded 2.8mm rainfall till 8am.

The day was cloudy and dark with intermittent drizzle. Images from Kalpana I satellite showed convective clouds over Bihar in the morning.

Residents were ecstatic about the cool weather. “The weather over the past few weekends was sultry forcing me to stay indoors. But today (Sunday) it was so great that I decided to take my family to Vaishali. Everyone enjoyed a lot,” said Avinash Kumar of Anandpuri.

Sonali Singh, a college student, said: “I waited for hours outside the hotel where Ranbir was scheduled to arrive. Thanks to the pleasant weather standing out in the open was not treacherous and I finally caught a glimpse of Ranbir’s blue cap.”

Weather scientists attributed the dark clouds over Patna as a mesoscale phenomenon, a rare collection of an enormous mass of rain clouds. Hanging 400m-500m above the earth’s surface, the clouds extended across 50km-60km, qualifying for being termed as strato cumulonimbus clouds.

The afternoon monsoon bulletin of India Meteorological Department (IMD), Delhi, forecast rain or thundershower at a few places over the state in the next 48 hours.

The local Met department, however, claimed that the rain would subside by Monday. “The clouds and precipitation are spread across the state and have been caused by a cyclonic circulation in the Bay of Bengal. The weather system has caused good rainfall in Bengal and Jharkhand since Saturday,” said Ashish Sen, director, IMD, Patna.

Strato cumulonimbus clouds, which cause a drop in the mercury column, brought down the maximum temperature from 34.2ºC on Saturday to 25.2ºC on Sunday. The wind is expected to change from moist easterly to dry westerly in seven to eight days, as monsoon 2013 bids farewell to the state.

“The arrival of westerly winds would mark the advent of winter in Bihar,” said Sen.