Rainy weekend across many parts of country: India Meteorological Department

NEW DELHI: Brace yourself for a rainy weekend.

The weatherman has forecast widespread rains across northern, central and eastern parts of the country beginning Friday with snowfall in parts of Jammu and Kashmir.

The change in weather has been attributed to weather conditions somewhat similar to that in early this month when the capital received heaviest rains in seven decades.

The weatherman has advised farmers to withold irrigation in field crops, apply fertiliser after February 17 and store the harvest produce in a safe place before February 14 to avoid loss.

An approaching extra-tropical weather system, commonly called as a western disturbance, is set to interact with easterly winds which bring in moisture from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal bringing rains to over many parts of the country between Friday and Sunday.

"The interaction of two weather systems would cause large scale thunderstorm activity over many parts of the country," Laxman Singh Rathore, Director General of India Meteorological Department, said here.

"The effect of this western disturbance would be experienced over vast tracts," he said, adding that some parts of the country would experience heavy rains accompanied by thunder squalls and hail storm.

The weatherman has forecast widespread rains on Friday in many parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, eastern Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha and Telangana regions.