The heavy rain belt is migrating from East and Central India to West India after a deep remnant depression from erstwhile cyclone 'Gulab' retained intensity longer than expected on Monday and set a course for Konkan, Madhya Maharashtra and East Gujarat and adjoining North-East Arabian Sea.

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The deep depression will weaken into a depression and a well-marked low-pressure along the way and emerge into the North-East Arabian Sea in the next three days. It will keep West India in thrall as it induces rain-bearing winds from the Arabian Sea and continues to pour it down over the region. 

Extremely heavy rain

An India Meteorological Department (IMD) outlook for Tuesday has forecast light to moderate rainfall at most places over Konkan, Madhya Maharashtra and Gujarat accompanied by heavy to very heavy and extremely heavy falls at isolated places over the region.

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What sustains the rains is the presence of the monsoon trough that will stay south of its normal position for the next four to five days. A secondary trough bridges North Konkan with the deep remnant depression located on Monday evening over South Odisha and adjoining South Chhattisgarh.

Traction in the Arabian Sea

The IMD located the deep depression to 65 km South of Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh) and 150 km East-North-East of Bhadrachalam (Telangana) on its westward track. It was expected to weaken into a depression into the night and further into well-marked 'low' by Tuesday evening.

The system may emerge into the North-East Arabian Sea and adjoining Gujarat coast by Thursday evening and even intensify after it touches the warmer seawater, though cooler into the outer seas. It will still rain it down over West India and northern parts of the West Coast.

Rains returns to Saurashtra

Heavy to very heavy rainfall with extremely heavy falls over East Gujarat, Madhya Maharashtra and Konkan on Tuesday. Heavy to very heavy rainfall is forecast for Marathwada, Saurashtra and Kutch.

As for Wednesday, heavy to very heavy rainfall with extremely heavy falls is likely Saurashtra and Kutch, while it will be heavy to very heavy at isolated places over East Gujarat and Konkan.

An extended outlook for October 2-4 sees fairly widespread rainfall for most parts of the country except North-West and adjoining Central India and Gujarat, where it will be isolated to scattered.

Heavy overnight rain

Earlier on Sunday night, erstwhile cyclone 'Gulab' crossed the North Andhra Pradesh coast and, in concert with regionally relevant cyclonic circulations, dumped heavy to very rainfall over Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Saurashtra, Kutch, Kerala and Mahe until Monday morning.

Significant rainfall amounts (in cm) received include Vishakhapatnam and Vizianagram-28 each; Alapuzha-17; Srikaulam and Kanyakumari-15 each; Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta and Chhota Udepur-13 each; Godavari-12; Krishna-11; Idukki-10; Kottayam-9; Vadodra-8; Dahod, Panchmahals, Bhavnagar and Kozhikode-7.

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