A western disturbance passing through north-west India is likely to trigger rain and thunderstorms over Jharkhand this weekend.

IMD's Ranchi Met Centre issued an alert on Wednesday, warning of rain and thunderstorm activity over north-west, southern and central Jharkhand on March 20 and 21( Saturday and Sunday).

The Met office also issued a lightning alert in several districts of the state.

"The passing western disturbance is expected to trigger an induced cyclonic circulation extending 0.9 km above mean sea level. The induced cyclonic circulation would result in adverse weather over Jharkhand this weekend," explained Abhishek Anand, deputy director of IMD's Ranchi Met Centre.

He went on to say that dry weather with mainly clear sky was expected to prevail over Jharkhand during the next two days.

A wind chart analysis and satellite pictures at Ranchi weather office suggested that cloudswould start to form in isolated pockets of Jharkhand from March 19.

The IMD forecast suggested that there wouldn't be much changes in both day and night temperatures over Jharkhand during the next 72-hours.

Met data suggested that Ranchi and its adjoining areas recorded a maximum temperature of around 33 degree Celsius on Wednesday while the night reading was around 18 degree Celsius.

Jamshedpur recorded a day reading of around 37 degree Celsius while the night reading hovered around 19 degrees.

Daltonganj recorded a day reading of 36 degree Celsius while the minimum temperature was around 18 degree Celsius on Wednesday.