Sunday, September 06, 2009

Amazing last 24hrs of cyclone "03B" .. http://ping.fm/ffdMe

Amazing track of "03B"

This is an amazing last 24hrs of minor Cyclone "03B". After making landfall at about 6pm IST on 5-Sep-09, it's continuing to track inland now (10pm IST, 6-Sep-09) it's almost 500km inland and still having it's cyclonic swirl to it and going strong.
RT @JenDelgadoCNN: Landslide kills 12 people in a densly populated shanty town in Mumbai. Western India could still see another 25 cm of rain this weekend.
RT @JenDelgadoCNN: Landslide kills 12 people in a densly populated shanty town in Mumbai. Western India could still see another 25 cm of rain this weekend.
RT @I__N__D__I__A: Late Monsoon, not a bad monsoon - Since 2 days, rain is falling heavily in some part of India http://bit.ly/EgUUG
Nice looking cyclonic swirl over land .. http://ping.fm/QANQa ... amazing and a very RARE view.
Yesterday's "03B" a minor cyclone is now well over Bihar, Jharkand and east-U.P.
Chennai - Got some mild drizzles over south-western suburbs.
South Kerala and Kanyakumari district also got heavy showers late last night and into mid morning.
Coastal Karnataka is getting heavy showers.
chennai - Touched a high of 34.7°C (12:59pm), yesterday's high was 35.9°C (2:30pm)
RT @ashpsingh: it rained cats and dogs yesterday night............now I can't go out to shop..........yeh kolkata hai meri jaan!!
Chennai - Hot and humid like yesterday, now 12:42pm we can see good Low cloud formation from West. Waiting for sea breeze from east.
No sign of monsoon withdrawal as of today... Withdrawal should have started from 1-Sep-09.
Large Parts Of Kolkata Waterlogged, More Rain Likely Today .. in fact it's raining now .. http://ping.fm/E5NvJ
India may lose south-west monsoon in another 150 yrs: Study .. http://ping.fm/b9Csm
RT @VamseeKayKay: nasty rainy weather here in kolkata :( .. now 10:41am

September rains may make up for the deficit

With no signs of monsoon withdrawing, as it usually does from September 1, it seems the rainfall deficit may be made up now.
A deep depression has developed over the Bay of Bengal and heavy rains are expected in many parts of the state that may just help fill the dams to its fullest capacity. According to Medha Khole, director of IMD, Pune, the withdrawal of monsoon is expected to get delayed by at least a week.

“When most parts of the country begin experiencing dry spells for consecutive five to six days, it is an indication that the monsoon has started retreating. The IMD said this condition has been observed critically in west Rajasthan, where the trend shows up from September 1. However, this year no such indication is seen even in west Rajasthan till now. In fact, it is raining heavily there,” she said.

Khole said the delay in withdrawal of monsoon could help improve the average rainfall received in September. “In August, we had 23 per cent deficient rainfall. Owing to the delay in withdrawal of monsoon, we can expect a little more than average rainfall for September,” she said.

Almost all parts of the state, including the city, ahve been receiving good rainfall for the last three days. Till 8.30 am on Saturday, Ratnagiri received 140 mm of rainfall, Mahabaleshwar and Alibaug had 50 mm rainfall and Aurangabad recorded 70 mm rainfall.

The IMD has predicted that the same conditions would prevail over the state for the next two days and the city could expect some showers during this period.

“The depression over northwest Bay of Bengal has moved in a northwesterly direction and has concentrated into a deep depression that will help increase the rainfall,” said Khole.

Meanwhile, the dam levels have increased by 3 per cent. “Rainfall in the catchment areas in the last few days have helped increase the water levels in dams,” said S N Bolbhat, executive engineer, Khadakwasla Irrigation Division, Pune.

India may lose south-west monsoon in another 150 yrs: Study

India may lose one of its crucial lifelines -- the south west monsoon, which brings rains across the country during the summers, in the next 150 years, warns a new study by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

The phenomenon is the result of global warming which has led to increase in the rate of temperature rise over Arabian Sea, researchers say.

This rise is reducing temperature difference between land and sea, known as Temperature Gradient (TG), responsible for attracting rain causing winds from Arabian Sea towards Indian mainland.

"For climatology, 30 years variations are considered. The decreasing trend (of TG) is highly significant and in another 150 years or so, it may tend to zero," lead author S M Bawiskar, a scientist at the Pune-based institute, told PTI.

Once the gradient becomes zero, Mr. Bawiskar warns, the monsoon winds will be replaced by dry easterly winds thus disturbing the flow of south-west monsoon.

He found that average temperature over Arabian Sea was 18.77 degrees Celsius during 1948-77 but it has increased by 0.87 degrees to touch 19.64 degrees during 1979-2008.

The results published in the Journal of Earth System Science show that rate of temperature increase over sea are higher than land which has narrowed the Gradient by 1.11 degrees during the said period.

The below normal rains during the current season are also an indication of the changes taking place in the temperature over the Arabian sea.

The Indian Meteorology Department has shown a 23 per cent reduced rain activity during the present season, which may be an indication of this phenomenon.

"With decreasing TG, monsoon current over Arabian sea would become weak. This will lead to reduced rainfall activity over Indian Peninsula. The break like circulation will prevail for a longer period of time, which we are already experiencing during this monsoon," Mr. Bawiskar said.

Global warming, which is increasing the average temperature across the planet, is also behind the increasing temperature over the Arabian sea, the study says.

During monsoon, Arabian sea and Indian peninsula are under the grip of westerlies (winds coming from west) in the lower troposphere.

These winds are mainly responsible for bringing rains over the Indian land mass and are established during the monsoon due to the Temperature Gradient.

Large Parts Of Kolkata Waterlogged, More Rain Likely Today

Just 20 days ahead of the Pujas and a fortnight before Id, the skies opened up on Saturday, leading to the season’s first major
waterlogging. Enthusiastic shoppers, who had braved the day-long sharp showers to hit malls and markets towards evening, were taken aback as the rain intensified. Several hours later, they were seen huddling under umbrellas and hugging their shopping bags while waiting for transport. A good many had to wade their way home.

The rain continued late into the night and the Met didn’t hold out any hope for Sunday either. The deep depression over the Bay of Bengal crossed the Bengal coast near Digha on Saturday. Till 9.30 pm, the Met had recorded 45.4 mm rain and it was pouring till late into the night.

Farzana Chowdhury, the mayor-in-council member overseeing the KMC drainage department, said officials in all drainage pumping stations had been alerted as soon as the civic body received the Met office warning. But, by night, large parts of the city were under water. The worst-hit areas were the usual trouble spots — Ultadanga, Manicktala, Chittaranjan Avenue, College Street, AJC Bose Road, Camac Street, New Alipore, Rashbehari Avenue, Behala, parts of Tollygunge.

Through the day, crosswinds and heavy rains also affected flight operations intermittently at the airport.
The city was not alone in its suffering, though. All south Bengal districts, including South and North 24-Parganas, East and West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura bore the brunt of the rains. The government sounded an alert in all the six districts, but ruled out a cyclone.
Depression passes by
- Met office says worst over but rain to continue .. http://ping.fm/j4mK8
RT @sumit41: Still raining here in kolkata... 9:30am.. 6-Sep-09
Kerala coast is active with showers today.
"03B" over land is likely to move in a north-northwesterly direction... here's the satellite shot at 9:30am .. http://ping.fm/sBFP0
Yesterday's "03B" remained practically stationary and lay centred near Bankura at 0530 hrs IST of today, the 6th September 2009.
Heavy rain warning for:: Gangetic West Bengal, north Orissa, Jharkhand and north Chhattisgarh in next 24hrs.