An intense but brief spell of thunderstorms, gusty winds and hailstorms lashed Hyderabad and several districts across Telangana on Sunday evening, bringing much-needed relief from the blistering heatwave that gripped the state earlier in the day.The sudden weather shift followed a day of extreme temperatures, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Hyderabad, warning that such conditions are likely to persist over the next few days. In its Sunday evening forecast, the IMD stated that most districts will continue to experience scorching daytime heat, followed by thunderstorms and gusty winds in the evenings till April 23.According to the forecast, maximum temperatures across the state are expected to hover between 40 degrees Celsius and 44 degrees Celsius. The intense afternoon heat is likely to trigger the formation of thunderclouds, resulting in evening thundershowers, lightning and strong winds.The thunderstorm alert covers a wide swathe of districts, including Adilabad, Kumuram Bheem Asifabad, Mancherial, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Jagtial, Rajanna Sircilla, Peddapalli, Karimnagar, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Mulugu, Hyderabad and other districts.IMD officials explained that the prevailing conditions are driven by extreme daytime heating, which causes hot air to rise rapidly and form large cumulonimbus clouds by evening. When this rising heat interacts with moisture-laden winds from the Bay of Bengal, it leads to thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds.Meanwhile, weather data from IMD indicated that minimum temperatures across Telangana on April 19 remained slightly above normal in most districts, with no rainfall recorded in the preceding 24 hours. Adilabad recorded a minimum temperature of 27.7 degrees Celsius, while Nizamabad and Mahabubnagar registered 27.8 degrees Celsius and 28.5 degrees Celsius respectively — among the highest in the state. Hyderabad recorded a minimum temperature of 26.8 degrees Celsius, which is 2.1 degrees Celsius above normal.Other districts such as Medak (24.8 degrees Celsius), Nalgonda (24.2 degrees Celsius), Khammam (24.6 degrees Celsius) and Hanamkonda (24.5 degrees Celsius) reported relatively lower minimum temperatures, with some areas showing slight negative departures from normal. Dundigal and Hakimpet recorded minimum temperatures of 25.6 degrees Celsius and 24.0 degrees Celsius respectively.
