A traffic jam on Ganeshkhind Road, in Pune on Friday. Pavan Khengre A traffic jam on Ganeshkhind Road, in Pune on Friday. Pavan Khengre Heavy rain pounded Pune on Friday, with a particularly intense spell between 1.30 pm and 2.30 pm, when the city received 90 mm rain within an hour. By 5.30 pm, Pune had received 101 mm rainfall, with parts of the city completely inundated. The rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning, wreaked havoc and led to water-logging at most of the major traffic junctions, affecting the lives of lakhs of Pune residents. In the last decade, the city has recorded such heavy rain only on two occasions — 181 mm in 2010 and 105.1 mm in 2011, but those spells were across a 24-hour period. According to scientists at the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the heavy rainfall was a result of the interaction between very high concentrations of moisture and excess heating. Three cyclonic circulations — over southwest Bay of Bengal, over the north-east Arabian Sea adjoining Konkan and another one along the west coast — have been actively contributing towards the build-up of moisture in the atmosphere, they said. “There is too much moisture prevalence, which is being pumped in from both the Bay of Bengal and the north Arabian Sea. When it interacts with dry and hot northerly winds, it gives rise to such convective and thunderstorm activities,” said A K Srivastava, head, climate monitoring and analysis group, IMD, Pune. Additionally, with the two systems along the west coast oscillating between Gujarat and Maharashtra coasts, its remnants are likely to bring more rains to the region. Considering the current atmospheric conditions, Met experts have said there is possibility of cloudy sky conditions and isolated spells of rainfall next week. Meanwhile, the withdrawal of southwest monsoon still continued to hover over Gujarat and north Madhya Pradesh, with little sign of it progressing further towards Maharashtra. “There is a north-south sheer zone running along Madhya Maharashtra, which can cause similar heavy rain over Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur in the next 24 hours to 48 hours,” said P C S Rao, a senior scientist from the group. For all the latest Cities News, download Indian Express App

Stay updated with all the Pune Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.