Heavy rain in South poised to move into Telangana, Rayalaseema

Heavy to very heavy rain continued to lash many parts of Kerala, parts of adjoining Tamil Nadu and Karnataka during the last 24 hours ending Thursday morning.

Flashes of lightning and thunder rolls are about the only signs that tell the uninitiated that this is part of the unusually aggressive summer showers, and not the monsoon which is more than 20 days away.

East-bound The rain-generating low-pressure area struck a pose off North Kerala coast, promising to deliver more even as it eyed West Maharashtra, Telangana and Seemandhra for concentrated action.

Northern Tamil Nadu may also get benefited in the process as the ‘low’ cuts a slow and grinding path across the peninsula to enter the Bay of Bengal over the next couple of days.

India Met Department has hinted the possibility of the ‘low’ intensifying once again into being ‘well marked,’ as it feeds on moisture being mopped up by the flows that surround it.

A geography that tapers more to the South, the peninsula is awash with moisture that the ‘low’ is able to feel at home over land just as it was over seawaters where it originally belongs.

Heavy rainfall Kochi, Coonoor, Kanyakumar, Alappuzha, Kottayam, and Athiramapatnam were among the areas that witnessed the heaviest rainfall until Thursday morning.

Met Department forecast for Friday said isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall would batter coastal and South interior Karnataka and Kerala.

Isolated heavy rain has also been forecast for north interior Karnataka, Telangana and Rayalaseema. On Saturday, isolated heavy rainfall may lash Telangana. Extended forecast valid until May 15 said isolated rain or thundershowers would continue to punctuate pre-monsoon weather over the South Peninsula.

Significantly, the forecast also said a few places over Andaman and Nicobar Islands will also witness rain or thundershowers during this period.

Onset window This may also activate the onset window for monsoon over these islands in the extreme South-East Bay of Bengal, the first outpost in the territorial waters where seasonal rains strike during mid-May.

The Myanmar Met Department expects a low-pressure area to develop over the Andaman Sea any time next week to trigger the South-West monsoon there. Andaman Islands will be the next to witness it.

Met authorities in Thailand also expect the southwest monsoon to set in by the usual date of May 15, almost simultaneously with that in the Andamans.

These Met agencies have warned that the season could witness below-normal to just-normal rain in the respective geographies this time round.

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