Monsoon tracker: IMD issues red alert for Gujarat, orange for Kerala, Arunachal; heatwave to continue in THESE states

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday issued a red alert for "very heavy" rainfall in Gujarat and an orange alert for Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry.

However, the weather agency also predicted a heatwave in several northern states, including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Rajasthan.

IMD on rain: Red alert

IMD predicted isolated very heavy to extremely heavy rainfalls in Gujarat for the next 2 days. The state is bracing chances of receiving rainfall of 115.5-204.4 mm and above.

Saurashtra and Kutch are also very likely to get isolated heavy (64.5-115.5 mm) to very heavy rainfall (115.5-204.4 mm) to extremely heavy rainfall (>204.4 mm) on June 24-25.

IMD on rain: Orange alert

The Met department has issued an orange alert for heavy to very heavy rains in Karnataka, Kerala, Mahe, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Karaikal until June 26. The states are likely to receive 64.5-115.5 mm of rain.

The weather agency predicted isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall for Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim until 25 June.

Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Meghalaya are also very likely to experience isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall until June 28.

The IMD predicted isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall in Madhya Maharashtra, Konkan and Goa till 28 June.

Similarly, Odisha is likely to get isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall from 27-28 June.

IMD on advance of the southwest monsoon

The weather agency has said that the northern limit of the monsoon is continuing to pass through Veraval, Rajpipla, Ujjain, Vidisha, Siddhi, Chaibasa, Haldia, Pakur, Sahibganj, and Raxaul. It added that conditions are favourable for the Southwest Monsoon to advance further into some more parts of the North Arabian Sea and Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand during the next 3-4 days.

IMD on heatwave

The weather agency said heatwave conditions are very likely in isolated pockets of Punjab, Haryana, West Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar until 25 June. It said West Rajasthan will experience a heatwave from June 25 to 27.

The Met department said the heatwave would abate from these states thereafter.