Fresh clouds in the Bay signal minor gains for monsoon

Fresh clouds have formed over north Bay of Bengal after a rain-generating low-pressure area over Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal weakened on Monday afternoon.

The fresh clouds bring with them hopes of another helpful circulation taking shape over the Bay, though weather models are not sure about its track and orientation.

But the evolving weather in the Bay is expected to have a rub-off effect on the monsoon, if India Met Department’s outlook for four days from Thursday is any indication.

It expects rain or thundershowers to break out fresh at many places along the West Coast and Andaman and Nicobar Islands and sustain into the weekend.

Rain or thundershowers have also been forecast for the East Coast and at a few places over the South.

Most places over the North-East and the foothills in West Bengal may witness thundershowers. Isolated thunderstorm activity has been forecast for the rest of the country.

This would represent a recovery of sorts from the ongoing lull in monsoon activity with heavy to very heavy rainfall being confined to North-East India alone.

As of Monday, rains have mostly dried up over the West Coast except the odd event over Konkan-Goa, coastal Karnataka and adjoining north Kerala.

Outlook for the three next days speak of a continued heavy wet spell over North-East India as a remnant cyclonic circulation from the ‘low’ hovers above Bangladesh/West Bengal.

Cherrapunji in Meghalaya was pulverised by an extremely heavy 38 cm in overnight precipitation for a second successive day on Monday.

But that was about the only standout event on a day when the rains were largely indifferent for the rest of the country.

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