Delhi, north-west India to see intense rain from August 26-28, says IMD

The monsoon trough (line of low pressure) is active and lying south of its normal position and is likely to remain active for the next two or three days, the IMD said.

Intense monsoon showers are expected in many parts of north-west India, including Delhi, between August 26 and 28, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said Tuesday.

A view from Vijay Chowk of Raisina Hills and the illuminated North and South block buildings on a cloudy evening in New Delhi. (Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO)

The monsoon trough (line of low pressure) is active and lying south of its normal position and is likely to remain active for the next two or three days, the IMD said. In addition, there is a convergence of lower level south-westerly winds from the Arabian Sea over north-west India till August 28.

“The Monsoon trough is shifting northwards and will stay very close to Delhi-NCR between August 25 and August 28. Under its influence, the convergence of lower-level easterlies from the Bay of Bengal and south-westerlies from the Arabian Sea will take place over north-west India. One or two spells of moderate rain accompanied thunderstorm is likely to hit Delhi between August 26 to August 28,” Kuldeep Shrivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre, IMD, said.

“As a result, widespread and very heavy rain is likely over north-west India till August 28,” the IMD said in its Tuesday bulletin.

In its severe weather warning, the IMD has said that along with heavy rain, moderate to severe thunderstorm and lightning is likely over Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Rajasthan, east Madhya Pradesh, and Vidarbha, among others, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The low-pressure system over north Bay of Bengal is likely to move west-north-west over the next four to five days. Under its influence, widespread and very heavy rain is very likely in Odisha, the Gangetic West Bengal, and Jharkhand till August 28; and over Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and West Rajasthan between August 26 and 28. Isolated extremely heavy rain is also likely in Odisha on August 25 and 26 and in Chhattisgarh on August 27.

In the past two days, many parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan had seen extremely severe rain. Abdasa and Naliya in Kutch each recorded 22cm of rain while Gondal, Bhanbad and Lakhpat in Kutch recorded 16 to 18cm of rain on Monday. Kadi and Umerpada in Gujarat recorded 33 and 26cm of rain, respectively. Nine persons died in the heavy rain, while 1,900 people were shifted to safer places in Gujarat on Monday, according to a report by PTI.

On Monday, 24 stations (15 in Bihar, four in Uttar Pradesh, two in Assam, one each in Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal) are in severe flood situation. Twenty-four of 45 storage dams in the country are at over 90% storage capacity.

Delhi only has a 6% deficiency while north-west India has 14% deficiency in monsoon rain since June 1. Rain within -19% and +19% category during monsoon season is considered to be in the normal category.

Monsoon rain since June 1 over the country is 8% excess with 5% excess over east and north-east India; 14% deficient over north-west India; 14% surplus over central India; and 25% surplus over the south peninsula.

Last week, the national capital had received three days of heavy rain, which left the city’s roads inundated causing long snarls on several arterial roads. On Thursday, Delhi recorded the heaviest spell of rain this season, with its Aya Nagar observatory receiving as much as 122.8mm of rain in just 24 hours, which according to IMD is “most likely” the highest rainfall recorded in Delhi in over a decade.

Rainfall between 64.5 – 115.5mm is considered “heavy” rain, while a reading between 115.6 – 204.4mm is considered “very heavy” rain.