IMD issues red alert as active monsoon to bring more extreme rain in south and central India for five days

New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert as the monsoon is likely to be active in Peninsular and adjoining central India bringing extremely heavy rainfall in these regions for the next four to five days.

“The Monsoon trough is south of its normal position and extends up to lower tropospheric levels. It is likely to be south of its normal position during the next 4-5 days. Therefore, extremely heavy rainfall is likely over Konkan & Goa, ghat areas of Madhya Maharashtra during 14-16 July; Coastal Karnataka and South Interior Karnataka on 14 and 15 and Kerala & Mahe on 15,” the weather bureau said on Sunday.

Also read |  Urban flooding havoc: Dig deeper for root causes

This comes after Konkan & Goa, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, East Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim, Odisha, South Interior Karnataka and Kerala & Mahe on Saturday received heavy to very heavy rainfall, and Madhya Maharashtra, Coastal Karnataka, Uttarakhand, East Rajasthan, East Uttar Pradesh, West Madhya Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Coastal Andhra Pradesh & Yanam recorded heavy rain.

Mumbai’s Colaba and Santacruz recorded 92 mm and 141.9 mm rain in the past 24 hours as of 8:30 am on Sunday and that in Goa’s Pernem, Panaji and Quepem had seen 210 mm, 97 mm and 165 mm of rain, respectively. In the case of Karnataka, rainfall recorded during the same period in Castle Rock, Agumbe Emo and Londa was 220 mm, 170 mm and 60 mm, respectively.

Also read |  With a sombre start, spectre of a disappointing monsoon season lurks

With this, the south peninsula has received 10% more than normal precipitation as of 13 July since the beginning of the four-month (June-September) monsoon season. However, it remained 7% below normal in central India.

Halting progress

The southwest monsoon hit the Kerala coast and northeast India earlier than the scheduled but lost momentum. It reached northwest India on time by 29 June, before unleashing Delhi's highest single-day June rainfall in 88 years. Mumbai was no different.

The IMD on 1 July said India could experience above-normal rainfall in July, with heavy rains potentially leading to floods in the western Himalayan states and river basins in the central parts of the country.

This is partly because the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has returned to neutral, and the cooler phase, known as La Niña, is expected to be formed in the second half (August-September) of the monsoon season.

Also read |  Frying pan, wetland, gas chamber: Is it time for you to leave Delhi?

La Niña is characterised by the cooling of sea surface temperatures in the same regions. It occurs every 3-5 years, and can occasionally happen in consecutive years, leading to increased rainfall and distinct weather patterns, resulting in floods.

In the case of Delhi, the IMD said widespread light to moderate rainfall accompanied by thunderstorm a d lightning is likely over Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Rajasthan; isolated to scattered rainfall is likely over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and East Rajasthan in the next five days. It further said that heavy rainfall may occur in Uttarakhand, East Rajasthan during 14-18 July, East Uttar Pradesh on 14, 15 and 18.