The monsoon seems to have made up for the lag in Maharashtra by reaching Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha ahead of time.
India Met Department said this morning that its northern limit touched Veraval, Surat, Ujjain, Narsinghpur, Raipur, Kalisngapatnam, Krishnanagar and Darjeeling, showing areas up to which it has extended reach.
During next three days, it is expected to cover entire Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha; remaining parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal; and parts of Jarkhand and Bihar.
The most important feature helping the spread of rain is the offshore trough along the west coast from south Gujarat to Kerala. Its presence is a proxy for the health of the monsoon.
The west coast, especially Konkan-Goa including Mumbai, and coastal Karnataka is expected to receive heavy to very showers at least until Friday, the Met Department outlook said.
WATCH IN BAY
The focus of meteorologists’ watch would now be the Bay of Bengal and its preparedness to generate a weather system to help the monsoon from the east coast of India.
Interestingly, India Met points to a strong system developing off the Odisha coast by the weekend. It will cross coast and canter across central India, driving rain all the way.
The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts too has been hinting the formation of this ‘low’ during this week.
But its latest outlook appeared to be is less convincing, though it favours strong monsoon flows and likely rain across the peninsula.
This morning, satellite pictures showed a trough running down from Bihar to south Chhattisgarh. It is likely the churn around it that would trigger the formation of the ‘low.’