Rainfall likely to reduce Tuesday onwards: IMD forecast

Pune city which was placed under a yellow alert due to the passing cyclone Tauktae on Monday reported a rainfall of 3 millimetres while Lohegaon reported 0

Pune city which was placed under a yellow alert due to the passing cyclone Tauktae on Monday reported a rainfall of 3 millimetres while Lohegaon reported 0.8 mm of rainfall, however, from May 18th the rainfall is likely to reduce, according to IMD officials.

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For May 18, the IMD has not issued any warnings for Pune, however, partly cloudy skies with light rains are forecasted for the city.

Across Maharashtra, north of Konkan and Goa and some parts of Vidarbha may recieve rainfall on May 18.

On Monday, along with Pune, Mahabaleshwar, Nashik, Satara, Mumbai, Aurangabad and Nagpur reported rainfall.

As per IMD, due to the ongoing rains, the highest maximum temperature was reported at Jalgaon on Monday at 39.8 degrees Celsius whereas the lowest minimum temperature reported across Maharashtra was at Mahabaleshwar at 17.4 degrees Celsius.

Cyclone Tauktae is now the strongest pre-monsoon Arabian Sea cyclone after 2010 and third strongest pre-monsoon Arabian Sea cyclone since 1982 onwards, according to data revealed by India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The IMD has also termed Tauktae as Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm (ESCS).

Dr Mruntunjay Mohapatra, director-general, IMD said that there is a trend of rapid intensification of cyclones in the Arabian Sea since 1990.

“There is a trend of rapid intensification of cyclones in the Arabian Sea. It may not be termed a phenomenon but there is a trend,” said Mohapatra.

He further added that in the Bay of Bengal, it is likely that a low-pressure area will form.

“However, how severe it will be is unclear as of now. We are monitoring the conditions closely,” said Mohapatra.

Vineet Kumar Singh, researcher at IITM noted that this intensification is due to the warmer sea surface and subsurface temperature.

“In our research, we have previously observed that warmer sea surface and subsurface have rapid intensification of cyclones. In the case of Tauktae as well, you can see that the cyclone intensified from category 1 to category 4 in just 24 hours,” said Singh.

He attributed the warmer temperatures to global warming and climate change.

“All across the globe, we can see a trend of warming temperatures. The warmer sea surface and subsurface temperature is seen to provide more energy to the cyclones” said Singh.

According to IMD data, this is the first time since 1976 and second time since 1900 that a cyclone in May is going to hit Gujarat coast with wind speed greater than 35 knots.

“As an impact of the cyclone Tauktae, Ratnagiri reported 364 millimetre rainfall in just 24 hours,” said Singh.

As per recent updates by IMD, ESCS Tauktae is moving at a speed of 15 kilometres per hour as of Monday.

It is likely to move north-northwestwards and cross Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Mahuva, east of Diu on late night of Monday. The wind speed forecast by IMD is 155-165 kilometres per hour and gusting to 185 kmph.

In the recent years, India has seen super cyclones like Maha, Amphan and Nisarga.