LUCKNOW, March 16 -- Temperatures dropped in many parts of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday due to light rain and thunderstorms caused by a western disturbance, a weatherman said. "Influenced by a western disturbance cantered over northern Punjab and a cyclonic circulation formed over southern Haryana-and resulting from the interaction of westerly and easterly winds in the northern part of the state-most regions of the state recorded a drop in temperatures," said Atul Kumar Singh, a senior scientist at Lucknow met office. He said this decline was due to intermittent light rain accompanied by thunderstorms, which has been occurring since Saturday night in the northern Terai regions and adjoining central districts. "The impact of this weather system is expected to persist until March 16. The weather will turn dry during March 17 and 18 and then a slight rise in temperatures is anticipated," Singh added. Thereafter, under the influence of an upcoming active western disturbance, a new spell of rain is expected in western Uttar Pradesh from March 19. With rain likely at various locations across the state until March 21, temperatures are expected to drop once again, returning to near-normal levels, he said. The state capital woke up to a partly cloudy sky on Sunday. There was thunderous development for a brief period. It looked for a while that the city would experience rain. As the day progressed, the overcast conditions disappeared and there was some sunshine and in between there was cloud cover. As a result, maximum temperature in Lucknow dropped to 31.6 degrees Celsius, while a day before it was 34.4 degrees. The minimum temperature was 20.6 degrees. The forecast for Monday is partly cloudy sky becoming generally cloudy with possibility of thundery development. The day and night temperatures will be around 31 and 17 degrees Celsius respectively. The state forecast is rain, thundershowers very likely at a few places over eastern UP and at isolated places over western UP. The met department has issued a warning too: Thunderstorms accompanied with lightning/gusty winds (speed 40-50 kmph) are very likely over the state. Moradabad recorded the lowest day temperature at 24.8 degrees. It was 31.2 degrees a day before. The city experienced 1.2 mm of rainfall. The day temperatures at Muzaffarnagar and Meerut were 26.1 and 26.9 degrees respectively. Meerut received 2.9 mm of rainfall. Banda and Sultanpur were the hottest at 37.4 degrees Celsius. Hamirpur 36.2, Ayodhya, Jhansi and Orai were 36 degrees, Barabanki 35.8, Prayagraj and Churk 35.6 degrees Celsius....