Monsoon pauses ahead of peninsular surge

The monsoon may remain in weak phase with reduced rainfall activity over central and adjoining northwest India during next two days, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) outlook said on Sunday.

But this phase would witness a calibrated increase in the rainfall activity over south peninsular India, the North-eastern States and along the foothills of the Himalayas.

IDENTIFIED PATTERN

This is a pattern identified with a ‘weak phase' of the monsoon, however brief, wherein rains scale up over parts of the southeast coast (including Tamil Nadu) and along the foothills of the Himalayas.

In fact, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts sees the possibility of a cyclonic circulation spinning up close to the Tamil Nadu coast and entering land.

It would later go on to set up a trough that straddles the corridor between Vidarbha and north Tamil Nadu.

Looking to grow further west, it would presumably set up some piloting rains ahead of a likely surge of flows across the peninsula from mid-week this week.

SATELLITE IMAGERY

In fact, the IMD has forecast the possibility of scattered rain or thundershowers breaking out over south peninsular India on Monday before consolidating thereafter.

Kalpana-1 satellite cloud imagery on Sunday afternoon showed convective (rain-bearing) clouds over parts of western Himalayan region, Saurashtra, Kutch, west Madhya Pradesh, South Orissa, extreme south Peninsula, Bay of Bengal, Andaman Sea and southeast Arabian Sea.

A short-term outlook valid until Wednesday said that fairly widespread rainfall activity would continue over the North-eastern States and south peninsular and central India.

Isolated rain or thundershowers would occur over the rest of the plains of northwest and central India during this period and scattered thereafter