Monsoon watch. Weather: Intense monsoon activity may prevail over West Coast this week

The monsoon fury currently on view along the West Coast could likely continue variously unabated for the next few days with India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting intense rainfall activity over the region as well as northern parts of the country where the heavy rain belt has checked in afresh.

Widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy falls may continue over the West Coast and adjoining inland areas during the next 5-6 days. Isolated extremely heavy falls may break out over Konkan, Goa (including Mumbai) and adjoining Ghat areas of Madhya Maharashtra, Coastal and South Interior Karnataka today and tomorrow (Sunday and Monday) and over East Gujarat on Saturday.

Rains for East, Central India

Fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy falls is likely over East and adjoining Central India from July 22 (Thursday) after the IMD on Sunday pushed back the timeline for formation of a causative low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal from Wednesday to Friday (July 23).

Moderate to severe thunderstorm with lightning may line up over Uttar Pradesh, East Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and East Rajasthan till Monday. The IMD has warned that the public should keep away from and animals be secured by tethering them suitably as the emerging weather could prove dangerous.

Rain belt moving to North India

Rainfall activity is likely to increase over North-West India with fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy falls along the hills (Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) and adjoining Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and north Madhya Pradesh.

Isolated extremely heavy falls are being forecast over Uttarakhand today and tomorrow (Saturday and Sunday) and over North-West Uttar Pradesh on Monday. Moderate to heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places over Delhi and Chandigarh today and tomorrow.

Intense clouds over North India

Satellite pictures on Sunday morning showed intense clouds over the northern parts of the country spread across Jabalpur, Bhopal, Saurashtra, Udaipur, Kota, Jaipur, Allahabad, Lucknow and Delhi, among others. Rain-battered Mumbai remains cloudy but can expect thundershowers from noon.

The active monsoon is propped up by the crucial land-based monsoon trough with its western end at the normal position and expected to move further north to host an intense wet session over North India. Its eastern end continues to the north of its usual position and will say there for another 2-3 days.

Low-pressure deferred to Friday

This is because the IMD has now pushed the timeline of formation of the next low-pressure area from Wednesday (July 21) to Friday (July 23). The eastern end of the monsoon trough will shift south in tandem to lie anchored along with the low-pressure area over the North-West Bay of Bengal.

The other monsoon-driving trough lying off-shore along the West Coast now runs truncated from Maharashtra coast to Karnataka coast (it lies extended fom South Gujarat to Kerala coast during peak monsoon). The IMD expects the trough to stay anchored along its current alignment for next 5-6 days.

Virulent monsoon for Mumbai

The virulence of the monsoon over Mumbai, neighbourhood and other places over the South Peninsula proved itself from the recorded heavy rainfall (in cm) during the 24 hours ending this (Sunday) morning.

Major centres hit are: Daman-32; Ratnagiri-26; Anantapur, Mumbai (Santacruz)-23; Mumbai (Colaba)-20; Dahanu-17; Guntur, Dadra and Nagar Haveli-15; Shivpuri, Valsad and Matheran-14 each; Bulsar and Hut Bay-13; Navsari and Mangaluru-12 each; Bajpe-11; Kangra-10; Gwalior, Wanaparthy, Bharatpur-9 each; Dausa, Cuddapah, Sawai Madhopur, Jamnagar, Mahabaleshwar, Nungambakkam, Dehradun, Najibabad, Kanpur, and Kolkata-8 each; and Harnai, Ernakulum, Chittoor, Gorakhpur and Churk-7 each.

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