Vanakkam! This (Thursday) morning, available indicators suggest that Chennai may   experience the same weather as the previous day --  the sun with  some clouds. The temperature may peak to 29 degree Celsius with north-easterly winds in play.

International models hint at a slim chance of showers tomorrow (Friday) morning, though. The southern parts of Tamil Nadu and around Sri Lanka, and even off the Puducherry coast, there could be some clouding  as part of early signs of an easterly wave activity further South over the Bay of Bengal and Equatorial East Indian Ocean. But its maximum impact will  be felt across Sri Lanka and over the ocean waters to its south, the latest outlook indicates. 

Western disturbance on the way

The bulk of the weather activity is now concentrated over North-West, North and Central India as a well-endowed western disturbance loaded upfront with moisture picked up all the way from the Mediterranean (from the interaction of warm equatorial and cold polar air masses) and incremental moisture mopped up from the seas along the way makes its grand  entry. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) located the western disturbance, a low-pressure band emerging from the entourage of the jet stream circumnavigating the globe, over North Afghanistan.  It has already facilitated the formation of an induced cyclonic circulation farther downstream over North-West Rajasthan. 

This offspring circulation may cause widespread precipitation with heavy rainfall/snow at a few   places along with thunderstorm, hailstorm and lightning over the hills of North-West India for the next two days. Isolated heavy rainfall is also likely over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and West Uttar Pradesh during the same period. Isolated thunderstorm accompanied with hail and lightning is likely over the plains of North-West India. 

Fog, thundershowers

Isolated dense fog is forecast to occur over the plains of North-West India on Saturday and Sunday as the parent western disturbance bears down over the region. The limb of the western disturbance digging further to the South also throws up the interesting possibility of the interaction of a band of westerly to north-westerly band of winds from the Arabian Sea with the easterlies from the Bay of Bengal. The interaction of these opposing systems always bristles with the possibility of rain, thundershowers or even hail over Peninsular India and   parts of the South Peninsula. In fact, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts sees the possibility of thundershowers in  the northern parts of Tamil Nadu and adjoining Rayalaseema on Saturday.

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Heavy clouds hang over the Madras University building in Chennai on Thursday morning. There’s a slim chance of showers on Friday morning. Photo: Bijoy Ghosh

 

Private forecaster Skymet Weather has forecast rain and thundershowers at many places with strong gusty winds and isolated hailstorms likely over Ajmer, Alwar, Banswara, Baran, Barmer, Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Bundi, Chittorgarh, Churu, Dausa, Dhaulpur, Dungarpur, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jalor, Jhalawar, Jhunjhunu, Jodhpur, Karauli, Kota, Nagaur, Pali, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Sawai Madhopur, Sikar, Sirohi, Tonk and Udaipur districts of Rajasthan during the next two days. Its weather alert for Delhi hinted at the possibility of rain and thundershowers at many places with gusty strong winds and isolated heavy   hailstorms over Central and East Delhi; New Delhi; North, North East, and North West Delhi; Shahdara; South, South-East, South-West and West Delhi today and tomorrow (Thursday and Friday). 

Heavy snowfall along hills

Mahesh Palawat, Vice-President, Meteorology and Climate Change, Skymet Weather, said   heavy snowfall is expected over the hills of North-West India today and tomorrow (Thursday and Friday). Punjab and Haryana will receive moderate to heavy spells of thundershowers with chances of a hailstorm. West Rajasthan will get scattered light rains today (Thursday), before increasing in intensity     tomorrow. The Delhi-National Capital Region may receive rain tomorrow and the day-after (Friday and Saturday), leading to significant improvements in pollution levels. A similar forecast is valid for Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand on Thursday and Friday, but lesser in intensity, as the western disturbance continues to track to the East-North-East. Many parts of Madhya Pradesh may also get good rains with chances of hail, Palawat said.  

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