IMD forecasts heavy rains for coastal Karnataka and Kerala

Orange alert regarding heavy rainfall from India Meteorological Department

Thursday, 10th September 2020

India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued warning of heavy rainfall this Friday in certain parts of coastal Karnataka as well as in the interiors of Southern Karnataka. Similar warnings have been issued for Kerala between the time periods of Thursday & Saturday this week. The heavy downpour is but the result of an off-shore low pressure zone between coastal southern Maharashtra and northern Kerala.

The shear zone running east-west denotes a change in the direction and speed of wind. The zone is running through the peninsular India and a cyclonic wind circulation is developing over the east-central Arabian Sea off the coast of Karnataka. IMD has predicted heavy rainfall in the peninsular India during the next three-four days due to the current weather conditions.

An orange alert has been issued by the weather bureau for certain parts of Kerala and Karnataka in Southern India and Meghalaya and Assam in North Eastern India on this Thursday as well as Friday. The alert has been issued to help the disaster management team stay prepared for tackling any sort of disaster like floods caused by heavy downpour. The monsoon depression is positioned north-ward of its actual and normal position (i.e. from Rajasthan’s Ganganagar in Western India to the Bay of Bengal in Eastern India). Also, a cyclonic wind circulation has developed over the Gangetic plains of West Bengal and the adjoining belts of lower troposphere. Widespread rainfall along with lightning and thunderstorms is quite a possibility in eastern and north-eastern India.

Heavy rainfall has been forecasted at certain isolated places across the sub-Himalayan West Bengal region and the Sikkim region in the course of the forthcoming five days and across most of the north-eastern states in the forthcoming four to five days.’

A depression belt is likely to develop across the west-central part of Bay of Bengal off the coast of Andhra Pradesh (AP) around the 13th of September. The phenomena of weather may pave the way for rainfall distribution. The intensity of the rains is likely to rise over the state of Odisha, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Yanam (Puducherry), Vidarbha, Telangana and nearby areas from 12th September onwards.  In the month of September, rainfall may range between normal frequency and a little above normal, as the four-month-long south-western monsoon gets ready for retreat, IMD declared on Monday.

Rainfall scarcity will possibly be evident in most parts of the country until the 13th of September prior to getting intensified post the 17th of September, as per the extended range weather forecast by IMD. The monsoons are likely to retreat in the country from the 17th of September onwards and are likely to withdraw completely by the 15th of October.

However, in this current year the extended range of weather forecast by the IMD reveals heavy and widespread rains along the entire western coast of India between the 11th and the 24th of September and then again until the 1st of October across numerous parts of the central India.

Source: Hindustan Times