LUCKNOW, March 21 -- Several parts of the state recorded a significant drop in temperature due to rain caused by a Western Disturbance on Friday. Najibabad recorded the highest rainfall in the state at 23.2 mm followed by Barabanki at 18.2 mm and Lucknow at 18 mm. Atul Kumar Singh, senior Met officer at Meteorological department Lucknow centre said that the weather recorded a sharp drop due to light to moderate rain accompanied by thunderstorms/hailstorms and the presence of clouds throughout the day in the state, caused by the effect of the Western Disturbance. "The maximum temperature of the day fell sharply by 4 to 14 degrees Celsius, causing the temperature to drop significantly by 12.4 below normal. The weather system will weaken from March 21 and completely end from March 22, which will cause the maximum temperature to likely increase gradually by 5-7degC during next week," said Singh. According to information issued by Indian Meteorological Department, the change in weather was due to the influence of an active western disturbance in the form of a trough in the middle and upper troposphere extending from northern Pakistan through Punjab and Rajasthan to south-western Madhya Pradesh and the induced cyclonic circulation formed over northern Haryana in the lower troposphere, along with troughs passing through another cyclonic circulation formed around southern Uttar Pradesh. It added that rain occurring in the state for the last two days is likely to continue until Saturday, and there is a possibility of a significant drop of 7-9 degrees Celsius in the state's maximum temperature till Saturday. As a result of the possible interaction of Easterly Winds coming in the lower troposphere with the Westerly Winds of the middle troposphere, an orange alert has been issued for thunder/lightning and strong gusty winds at some places in the state for Saturday. The chances of hailstorm are high in Basti, Siddharth Nagar, Gonda, Balrampur, Shravasti, Bahraich, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Barabanki, Ayodhya and surrounding areas, while the possibility of thunderstorms (speed 50-60 km/h) is high in areas including Prayagraj, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Siddharth Nagar, Sitapur, Unnao, Lucknow, Barabanki and Ayodhya. There are chances of hailstorm in areas including Hardoi, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur Nagar, Unnao, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Agra, Firozabad among others....