The Hindu Business Line : Monsoon may be active until weekend

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec. 10 The persisting low-pressure area over southeast Arabian Sea and adjoining Comorin helped extend the active monsoon regime from coastal Tamil Nadu to adjoining Kerala and Lakshadweep.

This west-northwest extension of the system is more or less in line with forecasts from varying models except that no intensification has taken place yet.

This in turn is being attributed to the movement of the seasonal high-pressure region (anti-cyclone) to coastal Orissa-Andhra Pradesh belt letting in dry northeasterly winds to North Bay of Bengal and adjoining peninsular south.

The dry winds are seen penetrating further into peninsular India and even Sri Lanka until the weekend when the anti-cyclone is shown to relent, allowing moisture-laden clouds to stream in from the southeast Indian Ocean.

Some models see this culminating in the setting up of an easterly wave in the Bay that would splash over the Sri Lankan coast around Monday next, touching off some activity over the Tamil Nadu coast as well.

MORE RAINS

India Meteorological Department said in its update on Wednesday that the persisting ‘low’ over the southeast Arabian Sea and adjoining Comorin may trigger fairly widespread rain or thundershowers over Lakshadweep.

Rain or thundershowers have also been forecast at many places over Kerala and a few places over south Tamil Nadu. Isolated rain or thundershowers are likely over north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

The Chennai Met Centre said that troughs of low pressure ran from Gulf of Mannar to southwest Bay of Bengal off the Tamil Nadu coast and over Kerala coast and neighbourhood.

Over north India, a western disturbance persisting over Jammu and Kashmir and neighbourhood has been the principal weather-driving system.

It will cause scattered precipitation over the western Himalayan region during next 24 hours and isolated thereafter.

The easterly movement of the western disturbance will take the rain belt to sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim from Thursday. Isolated rain or thundershowers are likely over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya.

The minimum temperatures, which are above normal by 6-8°C over parts of Rajasthan and west Madhya Pradesh and 3-5°C over parts of central India and the plains of northwest India, are expected to fall by 3-4° C as cold and sinking air at the rear of the western disturbance fills these regions.

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