Monsoon turns corner, 101% as of date

The South-West monsoon has turned the corner on Wednesday by posting 101 per cent braving a lean patch in East-central, East and North-East India.

Of the four homogenous geographical regions of the country, Northwest India (107 per cent), Central India (104 per cent) and South Peninsula (121) per cent recorded above normal rainfall.

NO GAINS

At 79 per cent, East and Northeast India was in deficit, with no significant gains recorded in the ongoing active phase of monsoon.

Jharkhand (-48 per cent), Gangetic West Bengal (-35 per cent), Assam and Meghalaya (-26 per cent) and Bihar (-25 per cent) bore the brunt of an erratic monsoon in these parts. Northwest India had a deficit Meteorological subdivision in East Uttar Pradesh (-28 per cent) lying adjacent to barren Bihar. Central India too had individual cases of Met subdivisions barely making the grade to the normal as per India Meteorological Department (IMD) definitions (putting it between -19 per cent to +20 per cent).

East Madhya Pradesh (-18 per cent), Orissa and West Madhya Pradesh (-15 per cent each) and Chhattisgarh (-14 per cent) are ‘normal' only by default.

LESS IN KERALA

In the South, the traditional monsoon playgrounds of Kerala and Coastal Karnataka posted -13 per cent and -2 per cent rainfall during the season as of Wednesday.

The massive 121 per cent surplus accrued from the humongous falls over Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu this time round in a trend forecast by international agencies before the start of the season.

An IMD update on Wednesday said that widespread rainfall was reported from over Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, the West Coast, Gujarat, Southeast Rajasthan, and Coastal Orissa during the 24 hours ending in the afternoon.

It was fairly widespread over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarkhand, Haryana, Delhi, West Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Interior Orissa, Gangetic West Bengal, Assam, Saurashtra, Kutch and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

LAND-BASED ‘LOW'

A land-based low-pressure area over Vidarbha and adjoining Chhattisgarh and Southeast Madhya Pradesh persisted overseeing the proceedings over East-central and parts of East India.

An upper air cyclonic circulation was located to over West Haryana and neighbourhood that boosted the easterly flows steered by the land-based ‘low.'

An offshore trough ran down from South Gujarat coast to Kerala coast, but not quite covering it in its entirety.

A rain alert valid for Thursday said that isolated heavy rainfall would occur over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Southeast Rajasthan and Coastal Karnataka.

RAIN WARNING

Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall would occur over Vidarbha, Madhya Maharashtra and South Madhya Pradesh also during this period.

But isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall has been forecast for Gujarat, Konkan and Goa during the next two days.

Extended forecast until Monday said that fairly widespread rainfall would occur over the Gangetic Plains, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, the Northeastern States, Orissa and the West Coast.

The rain belt would be mostly active over the eastern quadrant of the country, including the Southeast Coast, during the week ending September 15 (Wednesday next), according to the US National Centres for Environmental Prediction.