Photo by Harsh Mangal, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
IMD orange alert issued for Chhattisgarh, Odisha as heavy rain moves in
The IMD has issued an orange alert for very heavy rainfall in Chhattisgarh and Odisha, with Delhi-NCR expecting overcast skies and light-to-moderate rain through Sunday.
The India Meteorological Department has issued an orange alert for very heavy rainfall in Chhattisgarh and Odisha as a fresh spell of rain moves across central and eastern India.
Isolated places in Chhattisgarh, east Madhya Pradesh, east Uttar Pradesh and Odisha are on alert for exceptionally heavy downpours, while Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland in the northeast also expect torrential rain.
Northwest India, including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, is forecast to see scattered to isolated heavy rainfall from the same system.
In Delhi-NCR, the IMD has forecast overcast skies with light to moderate rainfall through Sunday, with no severe flood warning currently active, though localised waterlogging is expected on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and NH-9 underpasses.
The rain has been attributed to two converging weather systems, an active atmospheric system over northeast Madhya Pradesh and a low-pressure area forming off the West Bengal-Bangladesh coast, with a monsoon trough running from Amritsar to the Bay of Bengal.
The spell arrives during an otherwise comparatively dry monsoon season, with cumulative rainfall through mid-August sitting about 12 percent below the Long Period Average.
This rain surge arrives during what has otherwise been a comparatively dry monsoon season this year, with cumulative rainfall through mid-August running about 12 percent below the Long Period Average.
Northwest India, including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, is expected to see scattered to isolated heavy rainfall as part of the same system.
The IMD attributed the current spell to two converging weather systems: an active atmospheric system over northeast Madhya Pradesh combined with a low-pressure area forming off the West Bengal-Bangladesh coast.
A monsoon trough currently stretches from Amritsar all the way to the Bay of Bengal, a configuration that typically drives widespread rainfall across the belt it passes through.
Photo by Harsh Mangal, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0