Powerful typhoon made successive landfalls over Hainan Island and later over mainland China-Vietnam border early today.

Peer northwest Pacific storm Matmo is forecast to attain typhoon status later today and would grow into another strong category-3 (wind speeds of 178- to 208 km/h) storm in due course.

Who blinks first?

Matmo is racing away to a more easterly track than Rammasun and steer clear of South China Sea and off the Philippine archipelago to the west of Taiwan into southeast China coast.

Back home, India Met Department has extended the ‘window’ for a Rammasun-offspring to settle as a low-pressure in the northwest Bay of Bengal by a day to Monday.

This is because a resident ‘low’ over northwest Uttar Pradesh has been holding on strong from overnight, overseeing an active phase of the monsoon over northwest India.

No two individual low-pressure areas can coexist in the monsoon system; one has to blink for the other to take over the reins and preside over the monsoon.

Rightful place

Although the stage is set for the pretender ‘low,’ it must be assured of its rightful place in the weather system before it can settle down and get on with the job.

According to indications, this can happen only by Monday by when the incumbent starts to weaken and merges into the larger monsoon trough that lies across the plains.

Initiation of the new ‘low’ is likely to take place over land because the lead time for it to grow in the Bay waters may have been lost by then.

Third 'low'

Not just that, a third successive low would have come closer to fruition by then. As forecast earlier, would-be typhoon Matmo too would send in an offspring circulation into the Bay.

This ‘low’ may show itself up over northwest Bay off Odisha-Andhra Pradesh coast by the week-end (around Sunday next).

Meanwhile, India Met Department has forecast moderate to heavy rainfall over northwest India, west India, north peninsular India and Konkan-Mumbai from Monday.

Related Topics