The highlight of Friday morning’s weather is the low-pressure area that holds itself together even two days after India Meteorological Department (IMD) expected it to weaken, and which is located lately over East Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, piloting rains over East and North-East India.
The low-pressure area seems to draw strength from the overarching monsoon trough lying extended from, and cutting across itself, to Bikaner, Churu, Bareilly, East Uttar Pradesh and adjoining Bihar, Malda and thence, eastwards to Manipur across Bangladesh and South Assam.
Widespread rain for East India
The low is expected to move east-north-eastwards further into East and North-East India until Saturday. Apart from the monsoon trough as cited above, the low has thrown open another trough originating from it west-south-westwards to Madhya Maharashtra on Friday morning.
Also read: Low doesn’t weaken, powers its way into East India
Both these troughs, being areas of lower pressure, allow moisture-laden winds to blow in from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, which will trigger widespread rainfall over East India and North-East India on Friday, before decreasing in intensity from Saturday.
Widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy falls is likely over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, hills of West Bengal, Sikkim, Bihar and East Uttar Pradesh on Friday. Isolated extremely heavy rainfall is likely over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya.
Thunderstorm, lightning threat
End-season monsoon dynamics may also spawn thunderstorms and lightning over North-East Madhya Pradesh, East Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura until Friday night, the IMD said.
Also read: Monsoon may exit West Rajasthan from Sept 28: IMD
This is a familiar phase of violent weather for East India fraught with the potential risk of avoidable deaths despite available early warnings from various agencies, notes Col Sanjay Srivastava, Climate Resilient Observing Systems Promotion Council, an NGO that works for prevention of deaths from lightning.
“It’s ironical that we lose lives, livestock and livelihoods in this era despite enough information being available on the timing, strength and threat from lightning hazard at specific locations. Community-centric mitigation efforts are the need of the hour,” he said.