The Hindu Business Line : West coast bracing for another wet session

The brewing `low' in the Bay of Bengal, the season's second, has been advanced by a day as weather conditions fluctuated in tandem with the varying strength of westerly flows over ocean waters.

The National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) on Wednesday said that the low is likely to form over the Northwest Bay of Bengal by Saturday. Its previous update had timed the event to take place by Sunday.

`CONFLUENCE' AREA

Dr Akhilesh Gupta of the Department of Science and Technology told Business Line that the ongoing rainfall in Eastern India is the result of a confluence of south-westerly flows from the Arabian Sea with the easterlies from the Bay. The south-westerlies have been blowing right into the Gangetic plains in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh for quite some time now.

This confluence zone has thrown up a land-based cyclonic circulation, now lying over Bihar and neighbourhood. The widespread rains are likely to hold for another 48 hours.

TO RAIN AGAIN

An invading western disturbance will further accentuate the rain activity in the region. But the system is forecast to pass by Saturday, from when the westerly flows will start drifting southwards of the plains.

This is expected to trigger a revival in activity over the west coast, peninsular India and coastal areas of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

The activity over Northwest India is tipped to recede by this time, but the redirected flows will converge in the `low' over the Northwest Bay. This will further intensify the ongoing rain activity in Eastern India.

According to Dr Gupta, there is a remote possibility that the flows could congregate upstream over the west coast, especially over Konkan, to set up what is known as a mid-tropospherical cyclonic circulation, an enduring fountainhead of sustained rainfall.

But this would need to be reconfirmed, he added.

More Stories on : Climate & Weather | Climate & Weather

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page