The South-West monsoon is in no mood to relent as the India Met Department (IMD) today forecast the possibility of a fresh low-pressure area forming over the North Bay of Bengal on September 1.
This is even as an existing ‘low’ over North-West Bay and adjoining Bengal and North Coastal Odisha has intensified a round to become ‘more marked’ today.
MORE TO COME?
The IMD has not indicated further strengthening of the system to the next level of a depression, which would have made it the second such on a trot after the previous one set off what is thought to be among the century's worst floods in Kerala and adjoining interior Karnataka.
Meanwhile, an ensemble model of the US National Weather Services had last said that the Bay would remain active into the first week of September, the last monsoon month.
Normally, the monsoon starts withdrawing from extreme West Rajasthan from September 1 but this year the process may get delayed by the rains offering resistance over East and Central India.
The US agency has said that the current 'low' would intensify over South-West Uttar Pradesh and North-East Madhya Pradesh as the monsoon easterlies from the Bay interacts with monsoon south-westerlies from the Arabian Sea later into this week and the next.
It has forecast at least one more low-pressure area forming in the Bay over the next 10 to 15 days, which would mean that the monsoon withdrawal process may get delayed by as much.
RAINS FOR NORTH INDIA
Wind-field projections by the IMD too tend to suggest that one such 'low' might form around September 6, and track a path close to the foothills of the Himalayas.
Its afternoon forecast bulletin for today and tomorrow shows that the prevailing well-marked 'low' would drag the monsoon from East and North-East India into Central and North-West India.
Parts of West India as well as Peninsular India also would find themselves under the footprint of the emerging spell, which could help deal with some of the rain deficits in Interior Peninsula.
For today, the IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rain over East Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Konkan, Goa and Madhya Maharashtra.
Heavy rains have been forecast for Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, East Rajasthan, West Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, East Gujarat, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Coastal and South Interior Karnataka and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
ROUGH SEAS SEEN
Rough to very rough sea conditions are forecast along and off the Odisha and West Bengal coasts. Fishermen are advised not to venture into these areas.
As for tomorrow, heavy rain may lash Uttarakhand, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, East Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha, hills of Bengal, Sikkim,Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Konkan, Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Telangana and Coastal Karnataka.
According to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, cities and towns in East, Central and West India likely to be hit by the heavy rain are as follows:
The heaviest rain may be expected over an area bounded by Rajnandgaon, Bilaspur, Jabalpur, Chhindwara and Nagpur; Jabalpur, Sagar, Guna, Bhopal and Bankheri.
Other areas gaining from the spell, are, starting from the East: Gobindpur, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Ambikapur, Shahdol, Rewa, Panna, Pirawa, Kota, Indore, Jhabua, Banswara, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, and Mehsana.
Along the West Coast, the vulnerable areas are Nashik, Pune, Satara, Kolhapur, Belagawi, Karwar, Shivamogga, and Mangaluru.