The clouding and associated weather (light showers, thunderstorms) of the last few days have shifted from North India to East and adjoining Central India and parts of Peninsular India as active western disturbances overtook a break over the North. Instead, dry and cooler north-easterly winds associated with the seasonal high-pressure area (anticyclone) prevail over the northern half of the country.

Moist easterly winds

Over Central  India and adjoining Peninsular India, moist easterly winds are interacting with the dry westerlies over land, getting lifted into the higher atmosphere to condense and fall as rain/thundershowers. And this is exactly what the India Meteorological Department (IMD) says in its bulletin this (Sunday) morning. Moist easterly winds in the lower levels from the Bay of Bengal are likely to interact with cold and dry westerly winds resulting in rainfall activity over Central and Eastern India from tomorrow (Monday) to Wednesday, it said. This apart, an outgoing western disturbance to the East and North-East will have left its residual moisture over the region.

Dense clouds over parts of East, Central India

Satellite maps this morning showed dense clouds over Rourkela, Sambalpur, Kamakhyanagar, Bhubaneswar, Brahmapur, Rayagada (Odisha); and less dense over Kolkata and Kharagpur (Bengal); Jamshedpur (Jharkhand); Raipur, Kanker, Jagdalpur and Bijapur (Chhattisgarh); Ramagundam and Warangal (Telangana); Kakinada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupathi (Andhra Pradesh); Vellore, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu); Puducherry; Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kundapura, and Mangaluru (Karnataka); and Kozhikode, Kochi, and Kollam (Kerala).

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Central Vista, New Delhi, on Budget Day (Saturday). Pic: Kamal Narang

 

Scattered rain, thundershowers

Given this, East and adjoining Central India will see isolated to scattered rain/thundershowers over Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Vidharbha, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal from tomorrow (Monday) to Wednesday with peak activity on Tuesday. Isolated hailstorms are also likely over these regions the same day. 

Isolated light rainfall may break out over the southern parts of Haryana, Delhi, South Uttar Pradesh and Bihar mainly as a consequence of the weather happening just to their South. Meanwhile, absence of an active western disturbance and associated clouding will set off cold wave conditions over Punjab and Haryana until tomorrow. 

Outlook from The Weather Company

The Weather Company, an IBM Business, said wind convergence and consequent unsettled conditions will produce scattered rain over eastern Madhya Pradesh from tomorrow (Tuesday). The rain band will expand eastward and escalate to a peak on Wednesday. While the rain and thundershowers may abate on Thursday morning, another peak may be building over Odisha, Chhattisgarh and the adjoining region on Friday with chances of thunderstorms. 

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The Weather Company, too, took note of the fresh western disturbance expected to start affecting Ladakh (too far to the North to be of any relevance for the plains of North India) from early tomorrow. Its influence will be limited to the higher reaches of North-West India (the Himalayas of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) with isolated snow forecast until Wednesday morning. Day temperatures will trend lower by 2-8 degrees Celsius over the northern half of India during this forecast period due to clear skies.

Wet days likely until February 9

A five-day outlook from the IMD valid until February 7 said that the presence of the clouds will lift night temperatures by 2-3 degrees Celsius over many parts of Central and East India during this period, while no significant change is indicated over the  rest of the country. Shallow to moderate fog is likely during the morning hours over North-East India until tomorrow (Monday). 

An extended outlook valid from February 7 to 9 has forecast isolated rain/snow likely over the hills of North-West India while  scattered to fairly widespread rain/thundershower activity should continue over East and adjoining Central India.

Heat spreading to interior peninsula

The IMD said a fresh but weak western disturbance may affect Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh and the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand from late night tomorrow (Monday). Isolated to scattered light rain/snow is likely over Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh on Monday and Tuesday and isolated light rain/snow over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile yesterday (Saturday), the highest day temperature of 36 degrees Celsius was recorded at Anantapur and Madurai (Rayalaseema and Tamil Nadu, respectively) while the lowest  temperature of 2.8 degrees Celsius was recorded at Hissar (Haryana) over the plains of the country. 

The pre-summer heat is slowly spreading from the South-West Coast (Kerala and Karnataka) to the interior peninsula with a few stations in Tamil Nadu having already set January records. The Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, sees thundershowers breaking out over the South-East of the State today.

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