Heavy rain likely in NW, central India

New Delhi: Widespread and heavy rains are expected over different parts of north-west India including the Western Himalayan region and central India until Thursday, India Meteorological Department (IMD) authorities said on Wednesday.

The monsoon trough is active and lies south of its normal position (from Ganganagar to the Bay of Bengal). It is very likely to be active and near-normal/ south of its normal position during the next three-four days, IMD said in its morning bulletin.

Delhi received moderate to heavy category rain, measuring between 7.6 millimetres (mm) to 124.4 mm on Wednesday early morning.

“The monsoon trough is active and lies close to its normal position. It is very likely to shift southwards during next 24 hours and remain active during next 5 days.

There is convergence of strong moist southwesterly winds from the Arabian Sea over plains of Northwest India and Central India at lower levels and likely to continue during next 3-4 days,” the national weather agency said in its Wednesday bulletin.

A well-marked low-pressure area is lying over the northwest Bay of Bengal. It is very likely to move westwards gradually and concentrate into a Depression during next 24 hours.

Due to these favourable conditions, widespread rain with isolated heavy to very heavy spells is very likely over Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, MP, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Vidarbha during the next four-five days.

Extremely heavy rain is also likely over southwest Odisha on Wednesday; Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh on Thursday and Gujarat on Saturday.