Rain deficit eases further to 3% as low-pressure area takes charge 

Rainfall deficit for the country as a whole eased to three per cent on Monday evening as a low-pressure area perched over North Chhattisgarh took charge of the proceedings after having moved in from North Odisha from the morning. It presented the clearest physical and visible manifestation yet of what is proving to be a broad-based intensification of the monsoon over Central and adjoining East India.

Active monsoon phase

India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the monsoon has entered an active phase, backed up an animated monsoon trough that settled into a more orthodox alignment than in the morning and cut through Jaisalmer, Kota, Guna, centre of the ‘low’ over North Chhattisgarh, Jharsuguda and Puri and landed into the East-Central Bay of Bengal. It also had had to host one end of a wayward trough extending from North-West Rajasthan to the Arabian Sea that made the offshore trough practically non-existent.

But the ‘low’ over Chhattisgarh more than made up for the absence of the offshore trough by drawing in strong westerly flows from the Arabian Sea into the West Coast and further into adjoining Peninsular and East India. By Monday evening, a bank of heavy clouds approached Gujarat and the West Coast along a stretch from Valsad, Palghar, Mumbai, Ratnagiri, Panaji, Kundapura, Mangaluru, Kannur and Kozhikode in Maharashtra, Coastal Karnataka and North Kerala. Some clouds had ventured out farther inland into Hassan, Mysuru, Bengaluru, Vellore, Tirupathi, Chennai and Puducherry.

On the other hand, Peninsular, Central and East India saw heavy clouds hang over a region extending from Nashik, Ahmednagar, Bhopal, Sagar, Itarsi, Gadarwara, Chhindwara, Amravati, Nagpur, Gondia, Nainpur, Kawardha, Jabalpur, Shahdol, Singrauli, Balangir, Bhubaneshwar, Kamakhyanagar and Kharagpur across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal. Outlook for next five days said fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, and lightning over Gujarat, Konkan, Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Coastal and South Interior Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh and Odisha;. widespread rainfall, thunderstorms, lightning over Marathwada and North Interior Karnataka; scattered and isolated heavy over Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated thunderstorms and lightning is forecast for Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, and Himachal Pradesh.

Heavy rain for Gujarat

Isolated very heavy rainfall is forecast over East Gujarat region on Thursday and Friday; over Saurashtra and Kutch on Friday; Konkan and Goa until Friday; Madhya Maharashtra from Wednesday to Friday; over Coastal Karnataka, Kerala, East Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh on Tuesday; West Madhya Pradesh and Odisha on Thursday and Friday. Isolated extremely heavy rain is expected over South Gujarat and the ghat areas of Madhya Maharashtra on Friday; and over Konkan and Goa on Thursday and Friday.

Isolated heavy rainfall is forecast over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi on Friday and Saturday; over West Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday; East Rajasthan during until Friday; and West Rajasthan from Tuesday to Friday. Isolated very heavy over West Rajasthan on Tuesday; and over East Rajasthan from Wednesday to Friday. An extended forecast for Saturday to Monday said widespread light to moderate rainfall will likely continue over many parts of West coast, Central India and the Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. It will be scattered to fairly widespread over many parts of Peninsular India, North-West, East and North-East India, the hills of West Bengal and Sikkim, while it will be isolated to scattered rainfall over the rest of the country.

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