A professional kite flyer from Gujarat displays a parachute-shaped kite in Patna on Friday. Large kites like this will be on display at the festival at Sabbalpur Diara. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Jan. 13: This Makar Sankranti will be bright and warm — conducive to fly kites and savour dahi-chura (parched rice and curd) on terrace tops.

The weathermen predicted the lowest temperature on Sunday would be around 10°C, like today’s 10.1°C. The skies would be clear.

The only worry is the wind, blowing at a high speed for the past couple of days. It might pull down the temperature a bit. But the kites will fly high if it is breezy.

Ashish Sen, the director of Patna Met department, said: “No large deviation in maximum and minimum temperature is expected in the state capital during the next 48 hours. The minimum temperature would be around 10°C and maximum temperature would hover around 19 to 20°C. Also, shallow fog cover might prevail in the early morning hours.”

Sen said the wind speed would have an effect on the temperature in the next 48 hours. “Against the average speed of 1-2kmph, the wind is blowing at a speed of around 10 to 12kmph at present. If the dry and cold wind blows at such a high speed till late evening, say 10pm, the minimum temperature will drop the next morning. But if the wind subsides by early evening, say 5-6pm, the night will be warmer and subsequently there will be a rise in the minimum temperature,” said Sen.

“The minimum temperature (10.1°C) recorded today was a degree below normal but three degrees more than that recorded yesterday. This rise in the minimum temperature occurred because the wind speed had dropped last night. The rising trend in minimum temperature is likely to continue tomorrow and the day after. But it would be limited to one to two degrees.”

Residents of the state capital are upbeat after the sunny weather forecast for the Makar Sankranti day. “I was quite apprehensive about the Sankranti celebrations because of the overcast skies on the first few days of the week. But I heaved a sigh of relief after the sun came beating down for the past two days. All my family members usually assemble on the rooftop on the morning of Makar Sankranti every year and eat dahi-chura and tilkuts (a sweet) together. We will be able to do the same this year,” said Madhu Lata, a resident of SK Nagar.

Preparations are also on a war footing for the maiden two-day Patna Kite Festival from tomorrow at Sabbalpur Diara, opposite Kali Ghat.

“We have received around 800 bookings for kites from citizens. Over 1,500 kites have been delivered to us. A group of five professional kite flyers from Gujarat have arrived today. They will demonstrate professional kite fights with kites measuring 1’ to 7’,” said Gajendra Singh, manager, travel and trade, Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation.

The kite festival will start at 11am on both the days and continue till 4pm.