Wet spell over Peninsula may continue into next week

The moderate to heavy rainfall from an active phase of the monsoon is forecast to continue along the East Coast and over the South Peninsula into the next week. Global agencies have suggested that not one, but two cyclonic circulations (with the likelihood of converting into low-pressure areas) could emerge from the Bay of Bengal off the East Coast (Odisha to South Tamil Nadu).

The India Met Department (IMD), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and the US Climate Prediction Centre have indicated with reasonable confidence that there will be continued rain along the East Coast and South Peninsula.

The overarching rain-producing weather is a persistent trough, aligned north-to-south from Telangana to South Coastal Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

The trough is a receptacle for moisture blown in by the winds from the seas and is dumped in a heap as rain over an area where temperature, pressure and humidity conspire locally to set up the ideal conditions.

This is what has been occurring over Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and parts of Telangana over the last two days. The trend will continue in varying degrees over these places during this week and into the next.

In fact, the IMD has said that the ‘monsoon shear zone’ (the area with the most active weather conditions) sits over a line connecting Karaikal, Thanjavur, Karur and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Malappuram in Kerala.

Meanwhile, parts of Central and West India, including South and East Gujarat, West Madhya Pradesh, Konkan & Goa (including Mumbai) may also witness alternating spells of heavy rain as the rain-driving systems from the Bay move to the West Coast.

The IMD said in its evening bulletin that the monsoon trough in North India, a seasonally prominent feature, continues to pass through the foothills of the Himalayas.

In its forecast for the next five days, the IMD has indicated that most ofthe South Peninsula, adjoining Central India, the West Coast and West India stand to gain from the pulsating rain belts originating in the East.

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