LUCKNOW, Oct. 5 -- Barely 48 hours after the Southwest monsoon completely withdrew from Uttar Pradesh, rain returned to parts of eastern UP on Monday. Thunderstorms and gusty winds are expected to spread to other parts of the state through the weekend, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Gorakhpur recorded 14.2 mm of rainfall and Azamgarh recorded 10 mm on Monday. In Lucknow and several other districts, the sky remained overcast after after thenoon, but strong winds cleared the clouds, preventing rain in the state capital until the filing of this report.

Senior scientist Atul Kumar Singh of the Regional Meteorological Centre, Lucknow, said the activity resulted from an interaction between moist easterly winds, driven by a tr...