Monsoon continues journey; no heat wave for next five days
‘Active western disturbance in NW India due to cyclone Nisarga led to the rains’
NEW DELHI: Several parts of the country received rains on Friday resulting in sub-normal maximum temperatures, while the weather office predicted no heat wave for coming five days and a stronger monsoon over south and central India next week.
The national capital and nearby states including Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan received rains during the day.
Delhi's Safdarjung Observatory recorded 1.2 mm rainfall, while the weather stations at Ayanagar and Lodhi Road gauged 21.7 mm and 0.6 mm. Winds gusting up to 50 kmph swept across the city.
Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the regional forecasting center of the India Meteorological Department, said an active western disturbance in northwest India and moisture incursion due to cyclone Nisarga led to the rains.
He also said the region is not likely to witness a heat wave till June 15.
In its daily national heatwave bulletin, the IMD said Kavali (Coastal Andhra Pradesh) recorded the highest maximum temperature in the country at 40.2 C,
No heat waves are likely over the country during next 5 days, it said.
Meanwhile, in its monsoon update, the weather office said rainfall activity in central and south India is likely to pick up pace from next week due to a cyclonic circulation likely to form over the Bay of Bengal that may aid the progress of the monsoon, that hit Kerala on June 1.
IMD Director General Mrutunjay Mohapatra said a low pressure area is likely to form over the Bay of Bengal and move towards Odisha next week.
A low pressure is a cyclonic circulation and the first stage of any cyclone. However, it is not necessary that every low pressure intensifies into a cyclone.
This will help advance monsoon and bring good rainfall during the next week, Mohapatra said.
The IMD had earlier predicted that the monsoon would be delayed by four days, but cyclone Nisarga helped push the monsoon to reach Kerala on its normal onset date.
Conditions are becoming favourable for further advancement of Southwest Monsoon into some more parts of central Arabian Sea, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal, southwest and east central Bay of Bengal, entire southeast Bay of Bengal and some parts of west central Bay of Bengal during next 2 days, the IMD said.
According to the IMD, the country as a whole has received 9 per cent more rainfall than the normal since June 1.