The depression that crossed the Odisha coast on Thursday night has not weakened after 24 hours, signalling a potential to generate heavy to very heavy rainfall over North-East India.
On Friday, the India Met Department (IMD) located it over north Odisha and adjoining Jharkhand, 80 km south-east of Jamshedpur.
From here, it should travel north-northeast, towards the North-Eastern States.
A track close to the coast affords it the luxury of a ‘pipeline’, with one end rooted in the North Bay of Bengal, supplying oodles of the moisture it needs to sustain.
Storms normally weaken after landfall once the moisture-feed from warm seawaters is cut. The IMD sees heavy to very heavy rainfall for the hills of Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya on Saturday.
Heavy rainfall is likely over the rest of the North-Eastern States of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura as well as the plains of Bengal.
Squally winds, speeding up to 40 km/hr and gusting to 50 km/hour are likely along the coast of Bengal. Fishermen from the region are advised not to venture out into the sea.
Heavy rains will lash Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the South-West monsoon is expected to complete its withdrawal from North-East India, Central India and northern parts of the North Peninsula by the middle of next week.
This would pave the way for the North-East monsoon to settle over the South Peninsula, with a scale-up in rainfall indicated around the same time, the IMD said.