The keenly awaited low-pressure area has formed over northwest Bay of Bengal, an afternoon update by India Met Department said.
This is best thing that the monsoon could have asked for, not just in terms of the timing of the event but also the specific location where it is anchored currently.
The area around the Head Bay of Bengal (northeast and adjoining northwest Bay) is known to the ‘sweet spot’ for an ideally developed ‘low’ that is capable of sustaining the monsoon systems as a whole.
The monsoon play over the next few days will therefore be crucially dependent on its behaviour and endurance.
Positive factors going for its well-being in the short-term are the northwest-to-southeast trough in the neighbourhood linking it to Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Gangetic West Bengal.
Additionally, an existing cyclonic circulation over Jharkhand has merged into the ‘low'.
Livens it up
The formation of the ‘low’ has suddenly livened up the outlook for monsoon for the next three days.
Heavy rainfall has been forecast over East Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, coastal Karnataka and Kerala for today.
As for tomorrow, the outlook suggests heavy to very heavy rainfall for Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim.
Heavy rain
Heavy rainfall is also likely over Chhattisgarh, Gangetic West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, coastal Karnataka and Kerala.
A similar outlook is valid for Saturday when heavy to very heavy rainfall would lash Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim.
Heavy rainfall has been forecast over Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Coastal Karnataka and Kerala during the day.