Children enjoy a swing at Eco Park on Sunday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

The cloud cover over the capital foxed several residents on Sunday morning. Waking up to overcast conditions, many residents cancelled their weekend plans.

But those who chose to play the waiting game with the weather were rewarded. The sun started peeping out of the clouds around 2pm.

“I was initially apprehensive of making any outing plans owing to the cloud cover in the morning. However, since it did not rain till 12noon and the sun could be seen, I decided to venture out. I spent the afternoon with my wife at Eco Park,” said Boring Road resident Mukesh Kumar.

Unlike Mukesh, Ashiana Nagar resident Pratyush Kumar cancelled his family picnic because of the inclement weather in the morning.

“I wanted to go for a picnic at Sabbalpur diara with my family. But I had to change my plan owing to the weather. I postponed it to some other day. Instead, we gorged on homemade mutton in the afternoon,” he said.

The footfall at popular hangouts like Sabbalpur Diara and Patna zoo was not encouraging in the morning either.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Patna, skies would be clear from Monday. “The centre of the induced cyclonic circulation of the western disturbance was lying over Bihar on Saturday, which led to light rainfall across the state and heavy showers in the southern parts. However, by Monday morning it would cross Jharkhand,” said Ashish Sen, director, IMD, Patna.

The capital received 22mm of rain in the past 24 hours (till 8.30am on Sunday).

Apart from the cloud cover and the rain, the dip in the mercury column also forced some residents to stay back in their homes. The maximum temperature in the city dropped from 25.6°C on Friday to 19.3°C on Saturday. It was 23.5°C on Sunday, a dip of four degrees from the normal.

As the cloud cover restricts the radiation from the earth’s surface to rise in the upper layer of the atmosphere, a surge in the minimum temperature was observed over the weekend. From 14°C on Friday, it rose to 14.9°C on Saturday. On Sunday, it stood at 16.2°C. “The maximum and minimum temperature on Monday is expected to be around 25°C and 12°C, respectively,” said Sen.