Moderate rain warning for Delhi

Some parts of Delhi received light rain on Monday, but meteorological conditions are favourable for moderate to heavy rain according to the Regional Meteorological

Some parts of Delhi received light rain on Monday, but meteorological conditions are favourable for moderate to heavy rain according to the Regional Meteorological Centre, Delhi.

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Safdarjung and Lodhi Road received “trace” rain on Monday afternoon, while Ridge and Palam received 0.4mm rain. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday morning said a cluster of convective clouds was approaching Delhi from the west and north-west directions. “Moderate rain/thundershowers with some intense spells is likely to begin over Delhi...” an IMD statement read.

“The monsoon trough is passing very close to Delhi and for the next couple of days it’s likely to oscillate in the region. We are expecting moderate to heavy rain late Monday night or early Tuesday morning and later again on Tuesday. The monsoon trough is passing along Amritsar, Ludhiana, Meerut, Gorakhpur, Bhagalpur and the Himalayan foothills in the east. Because the western side of the trough is likely to oscillate around the region, Delhi may get light rain for a few days,” said Kuldeep Shrivastava, head of the regional weather forecasting centre. There could be traffic disruption and waterlogging in low-lying areas on Monday and Tuesday, the Regional Meteorological Centre said.

Some parts of Delhi received spells of “heavy” monsoon showers for around three hours early Sunday morning. Safdarjung, Delhi Ridge and Lodhi Road recorded 74.8mm; 86mm and 81.2mm of rain respectively. Safdarjung recorded the highest rain in a day for July since 2015.

“The reason for this heavy spell on Sunday is that the monsoon trough is just north of Delhi. Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh have also received widespread rain. This kind of rain is likely to occur again and again until July 21,” said RK Jenamani, senior scientist, national weather forecasting centre.

Delhi has had a rain deficiency of 55% since June 1 as on Saturday, which reduced to 43% on Monday following the heavy showers on Sunday.

The western part of the monsoon trough is north of its normal position, and the eastern part is along the foothills of the Himalayas. In addition, the convergence of moist southerly/southwesterly winds from Bay of Bengal over the north-east and the adjoining east of India and from the Arabian Sea over the north-west of India at lower tropospheric levels will continue for the next two or three days, IMD said in its Monday bulletin.

Under the influence of these meteorological conditions, widespread and extremely heavy rain is likely over Bihar, the sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura in the next four or five days.

Widespread and very heavy rain is likely over Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in the next two days, the IMD bulletin said.

The Brahmaputra is in the ‘severe to above normal’ flood situation all along its course from Dibrugarh to Dhubri. Downstream of Tezpur, the river has started rising in Guwahati. Due to forecasted rainfall, there is a likelihood of ‘Severe to Extreme Flood Situation’ in main Brahmaputra from Dibrugarh to Dhubri districts, the Central Water Commission warned on Sunday. On Sunday, 27 stations (13 in Bihar, 11 in Assam, 2 in Uttar Pradesh and 1 in West Bengal) are flowing in ‘Severe Flood Situation’. Severe flood is declared when the water level is touching or exceeding the danger level but is below the highest flood level (HFL).