Cloud cover over Patna on Friday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, May 20: This weekend, you can chill out. The heat will not bother you. The Met department has forecast overcast skies tomorrow with chances of showers.

After the squall on Wednesday and drizzles the day after, the citizens woke up to overcast skies this morning. The dense clouds acted as sun screen, giving respite to people from scorching heat. The minimum temperature recorded today was 24.6°C, a degree below normal.

The Met department said the overcast condition in the capital was the result of a cyclonic circulation over Bihar and Jharkhand. The clouds will hover over the city skies tomorrow as well.

“The cloudy condition is likely to prevail in the city today and tomorrow. The maximum temperature would hover around 35°C. There is possibility of formation of thunderclouds in the city, Bhagalpur, Purnea and Gaya till Monday. Thunderstorms are likely in these places in the late afternoon or evening hours in the next three days,” Animesh Chandra, the director of Patna Met department, said.

Chandra said the prevailing cyclonic circulation might result in scattered rainfall in various places in Bihar, including the state capital, in the next two days. “Right now, easterly light-weight winds are dominating the atmosphere of the city. The moisture content is hovering around 70 per cent,” Chandra said.

The residents are upbeat over the change in weather conditions in the past few days. The weekend forecast has made several wanderlusts pack their bags.

Rajeev Kumar, a teacher, said: “I’m planning to go out on a long drive tomorrow with my wife. We have not ventured out for almost for a month because of scorching heat.”

Samiksha Mishra, a resident of the Boring Road area, said: “Children are getting more time to play outside because of cloud cover. The dip in mercury is of great relief. But the loss of lives because of thunderstorms is unfortunate.”

After the causality of 12 human lives in various parts of the state because of the thunderstorm on Wednesday night, the state disaster management department has geared up for relief measures.

“There is lack of co-ordination with the meteorological department. But we have asked the hospitals and police to be on alert to provide instant relief in case of any calamity,” Vyas Ji, the principal secretary of the state disaster management department, said.