Guwahati, June 15 : Owing to cyclonic circulations, Assam and other states in the northeastern region are set to receive heavy rain in the next few days, weather officials said on Saturday.

Heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorms lashed various places in Assam including the southern part since Friday night.

Sanjay Shaw, director of the regional meteorological centre in Guwahati told IANS, 'A cyclonic circulation over Assam and neighbourhood area is persisting 1.5 kilometres above the mean sea level. Moreover, the east-west trough from northwest Bihar to Nagaland now runs from central Uttar Pradesh to east Meghalaya across north Bihar and sub-Himalayan West Bengal at 0.9 kilometres above the sea level.'

He has also mentioned that another cyclonic circulation lies over east Bihar and Sub-Himalayan West Bengal including Sikkim which is also accounting for the torrential rains in the northeastern region.

The maximum and minimum temperatures have also dropped in many cities across the northeast.

According to the weather department, the maximum temperature in Guwahati on Friday was recorded at 30.6 degrees Celsius which is two notches below the normal. In Silchar, the maximum temperature was 31.3 degrees, a drop of 1.3 degrees.

The Met Department has issued a warning of thunderstorms and rain over the next five days in several parts of the northeast.

'Thunderstorms and lightning are very likely to occur at isolated places over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura. Heavy to very heavy with extremely heavy rain is very likely to occur at isolated places over Assam & Meghalaya,' a weather forecast mentioned.

/IANS