‘Active’ tag of next westerly system withdrawn

India Meteorological Department (IMD) seems to have withdrawn the ‘active’ status indicated for a fresh western disturbance expected to hit northwest India during the weekend, as suggested in Tuesday morning’s update.

This came after a prevailing heavy weather maker system left the region in the afternoon and was bound for the east.

But the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts persisted with its outlook for continued wet regime for northwest India for two more weeks.

In fact, the week ending February 24 is expected to see an interaction between westerlies and easterlies from the Bay of Bengal spawned likely by a weather system.

Northwest India, east India, parts of east-central India, the southeast coast and southern peninsula are all expected to be brought within the footprint of the productive interaction, according to the US Centres for Environmental Prediction.

Coastal areas and immediate interiors of West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu may witness some weather, including scattered rains, during this period.

Meanwhile, the IMD update said that widespread rainfall or snowfall continued to be reported from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Fairly widespread rain or thundershowers has occurred over Punjab and Haryana while it was isolated over West Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

The chief amounts of rainfall (in cm) recorded until Tuesday morning were Batote-7; Bhaderwah, Katra and Banihal-5 each; Quazigund and Dharamshala-4 each; Kukernag and Pahalgam-3 each; and Srinagar, Jammu, Kupwara and Buntar-2 each.

Minimum temperatures are above normal by 4 to 6 deg Celsius over many parts of northwest and adjoining east and central India in tandem with the eastward movement of the ‘heat engine’ up front of the western disturbance.

By the same token, maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to fall by 2 to 4 deg Celsius over the plains of northwest India and adjoining central Indian over the next few days as the rear of the western disturbance system shows up and the warming in the front probes the east of the country.

Kalpana1cloud imagery at of the morning showed the presence of convective (rain-bearing) clouds over parts of southwest Bay of Bengal, which is witnessing an easterly wave activity.

Forecasts said that isolated rain or snow would occur over Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday and Thursday and over Uttarakhand on Wednesday.

Scattered rain or thundershowers may unfold over sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.