The monsoon made impressive gains over north-western and eastern parts of the country on Wednesday as it advanced into some parts of Rajasthan and East Uttar Pradesh; some more parts of Madhya Pradesh and Bihar; and remaining parts of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, with its northern limit reaching Barmer, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Gwalior, Khajuraho, Sonbhadra and Gaya.
This was achieved on a productive platform provided by a well-marked low-pressure area over plains of West Bengal and a twin low-pressure area over West Rajasthan. A western disturbance persisted with its axis unchanged from its location over Sriganganagar, while a helpful trough linked Punjab with north Gujarat across a cyclonic circulation over West Rajasthan.
Expanding coverage
India Meteorological Department (IMD) said conditions are favourable for further advance of monsoon over some more parts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh; remaining parts of Madhya Pradesh and Bihar; some parts of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh during next 2-3 days, extending coverage to most parts of the country during this period.
Heavy pre-monsoon rainfall continued to lash Punjab, West Uttar Pradesh and Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi overnight on Wednesday morning thanks to presence of the western disturbance. Heavy to very heavy monsoonal rain battered Assam and Meghalaya; plains of West Bengal; Odisha; Jharkhand; West Madhya Pradesh; Saurashtra and Kutch; Coastal Karnataka; and Kerala and Mahe.
Third day of march
Heavy rain was reported from a few places over Jharkhand and at isolated places over West Rajasthan; East Rajasthan; East Madhya Pradesh; east Gujarat; Konkan and Goa; Madhya Maharashtra; Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal; North Interior Karnataka; and South Interior Karnataka on the third consecutive day when the monsoon forged ahead after a long hiatus .
Fresh ‘low’ looms
Numerical predictions on Wednesday tended to indicate the well-marked ‘low’ may weaken and move slowly north-west across Jharkhand, even as north-west Bay of Bengal prepares to throw up a follow-up ‘low’ across West Bengal-Odisha coasts. Slow track and buzz in the rear may not allow the first system to further ramp up as a depression as expected earlier.
Two monsoon low-pressure systems may not be able to prosper at such close ranges except in rare cases, leading to a situation when one has to give up. In this case, the existing ‘low’ over West Bengal-Jharkhand may have to blink first, allowing the field open to the follow-up system to establish over the next week or so and intensify to some extent.