The Hindu Business Line : Westerlies douse searing heat in North India

Thiruvananthapuram, May 5 A passing western disturbance with an induced cyclonic circulation hovering in the Jammu and Kashmir region and neighbourhood has helped douse the searing heat in northwest and central India on Monday.

The induced circulation whipped up rain and thundershowers over Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

The overnight cooling trend has slightly dented the contours of the ‘heat low’ over western Rajasthan, where surface atmospheric pressure (1,002 millibars) firmed up relative to Sunday’s position (998 millibars).

MAY REVERT

The pressure level is expected to revert back to below the 1,000-millibar level once the western disturbance passes to the east-northeast and the impact from the weather-driving cyclonic circulation fades away.

Model predictions suggest that rain or thundershowers over the western Himalayan region and dust or thunderstorms over the plains of northwest India are likely to extend for another day or two.

Meanwhile, heat wave conditions are likely to hold during the next three days. The India Met Department said the highest maximum temperature of 46.2 degree Celsius on Monday was recorded at Hissar (Haryana).

NEW BAY ‘LOW’

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) continued to predict a ‘low’ spinning up over extreme east Bay of Bengal. It may not be able to scale up much in strength over seawaters scorched by torrential rain brought to bear by tropical cyclone Nargis.

Proximity to the South-East Asian landmass too, would act as a restraint on the system, which is depicted to wash ashore over the Myanmar coast by May 15. It is expected that monsoon currents would get dragged into the Andaman Sea as the system negotiates its way to the Myanmar coast.

A concurrent system brewing in the west-central Pacific east of the Philippines is shown to grow to typhoon strength. Latest predictions tend to suggest that the system would recurve mid-course to the northeast, skirting the Philippine archipelago altogether. But the danger from high winds raging from a southwesterly direction cannot be wished away, according to forecasts.

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