Fresh thunderstorm warning issued for several states

The Meteorological (Met) Department on Friday issued a fresh warning for possible thunderstorms in the northwest and northeast regions.

The Met department's capability appeared rather limited as its alerts did not specify the intensity of storms.

"Thunderstorm activity is common in this weather. Certain meteorological conditions favour severity of the storms, right now conditions are favourable. Northwest and northeast regions and southern peninsular area expected to see thunderstorm activity, alerts issued," officials from Met department told ANI.

According to media reports, the Met department had admitted that its radar wasn't working for a month and because of which it could not determine the precise intensity of the storm. Whatever information it had was put on its website alone and not sent to the state government.

Earlier in the day, the government also issued an alert about likely storms in several areas like West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The forecast suggested that on May 5, thunderstorms, accompanied by a squall, were likely to be experienced in several parts of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Himachal Pradesh (HP), while thunderstorms, along with gusty wind, were predicted for Uttarakhand and Punjab.

It also predicted that heat wave conditions would prevail over Western Rajasthan.

It further said that thunderstorms, accompanied with squall and hail, were expected in J&K and HP on May 7, while thunderstorms, accompanied with gusty winds, would be prevalent in Uttarakhand and Punjab.

Heavy rains were expected in northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura on the same day, while thunderstorms/dust storm in Rajasthan.