Jharkhand felt the effect of the Western Disturbance in its bones on freaky Thursday, when several places including Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Daltonganj saw overcast skies and light showers.

Western Disturbance, a fabled part of the subcontinent's winter, is a phenomenon that owes its origin to an extra-tropical storm that upon its arrival, causes anything from showers to fog and snow.

Weathermen said that the Western Disturbance passing through higher latitudes impacted weather in many northern states as well as Jharkhand on Thursday, with its effect to last for next two days.

"Ranchi and adjoining areas saw light showers on Thursday. Some other districts also recorded light rain due to Western Disturbance," said A.K. Sen, director of Patna Meteorological Centre.

"Light rain or thundershowers are likely at isolated pockets of the state in the next 48 hours. Weather will improve after that," said D.G. Hedau, a senior weather official of Ranchi Meteorological Centre.

While Ranchi and Jamshedpur recorded rainfall in traces, places such as Simdega, Khunti and Ramgarh got over 1mm. Reports of light showers came from Lohardaga, Dumka, Seraikela-Kharsawan and West Singhbhum. Moisture incursion is on, with clouds continuing to form at many places.

Cloudy skies will also rattle day and night readings. "Nights will be warmer by a degree or two in the next 24 hours while the cloud cover would mean colder days," said the duty officer at Regional Meteorological Centre.

Ranchi was a classic example of this. On Thursday, it recorded night temperature of 9°C, two degrees above normal, against Wednesday's 7.1°C. But, its day temperature plunged five notches to 19.7°C, from Wednesday's 23.8°C.

Ranchi DC Manoj Kumar ordered bonfires at prominent roundabouts to give relief to the poor in this weather.

Jamshedpur, however, saw no change in night readings. Like on Wednesday, Thursday clocked 11.2°C.

In Daltonganj, Palamau, the night temperature saw a small dip, 7.1°C against Wednesday's 7.2°C.