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With less than 10 days to go before the winter season gives in to pre-monsoon (from March 1), extended dense to very dense fog over North-West India (Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi) has baffled the India Meteorological Department (IMD) even while it had accurately predicted the breakout of unseasonal thunderstorms over the central and southern parts of the country.
Another unusual pattern is the battery of moisture-laden western disturbances streaming in and warming up the atmosphere over North India. The frigid conditions of January and early February associated with a La Nina year have suddenly ceased to exist, while more western disturbances are expected to cross in from the border right till the end of the month as per IMD projections.
Yet another pattern has been the lack of rain over crucial for the health of the standing Rabi crop in the region. Already, the 2020 monsoon (June-September) has proved deficient over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi. October, too, yielded hardly anything for the entire North and North-West India. November was reasonably good, but December had disappointed.
As for the period from January 1 till date (February 19), entire North-West India is in significant deficit and there is no major precipitation event being forecast for the region, the IMD said. This is even as parts of Central and Peninsular India might receive thundershowers until the month end, as per global forecasts.
Thundershowers for South
The IMD said that rainfall occurred at many places over Lakshadweep area during the 24 hours ending on Friday morning; at a few places over coastal Karnataka and South Interior Karnataka; and at isolated places over Tamil Nadu, Kerala, North interior Karnataka, Rayalaseema and Telangana as part of the ongoing unusual pattern of thunderstorms lining up over the region.
The Regional Met Centre, Chennai, said that thunderstorms with lightning may break out on Saturday over Tamil Nadu, Kerala, South Interior Karnataka, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema. On Sunday, thunderstorms and lightning will be confined to isolated places over South Interior Karnataka.
Light to moderate rainfall, thunderstorm, lightning and hail are forecast at isolated/scattered places over Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada till Saturday, while isolated thunderstorms and lightning are forecast over Konkan, Goa, North Interior Karnataka, Vidarbha and South Chhattisgarh.