Satellite maps this morning showed a build-up of heavy clouding off the Maharashtra coast, especially Konkan and Goa, as the monsoon continues to show signs of revival.
Seasonal rains had gone into a weak phase for close to a week now after the monsoon hit Mumbai one day ahead on Saturday last (June 9) and held strong over the West Coast for the next two to three days.
But Kerala as well as the North-Eastern States had been witnessing moderate to heavy rain during the weak phase due to persisting localised features of the monsoon. This phase might undergo some favourable change with a more broad-based revival of rains on the West Coast as well as the adjoining interior regions of Peninsular India.
The cloud mass off the West Coast has already breached the Kankavali-Kunkeshwar-Vijaydurg-Rajapur-Ratnagiri-Ganpati Pule and Dapoli-Anjarle-Harihareshwar-Mangaon-Rajapuri-Roha in the North.
In the South, enhanced convection is seen along the coast of Kochi in Kerala as well to the southern tip of Sri Lanka, revealing the contours of what looks like a abroad-based revival of the monsoon. Similarly, significant cloud-building activity is spotted to the South of Andaman & Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal although skies above Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea are relatively relatively clear.
Forecast for today
As for today, India Met Department (IMD) sees prospects of heavy rain at isolated places over Tamil Nadu, Kerala, South Interior Karnataka, Konkan & Goa and hills of Bengal and Sikkim.
Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds and lightning is likely at isolated places over Punjab, North Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, West Uttar Pradesh, North Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Rayalaseema.
Meanwhile, arrival of a monsoon-friendly Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) wave is expected to boost the monsoon prospects, though not to a scale witnessed during the onset phase from June beginning.
A lone model, an ensemble of the US National Centres for Environmental Prediction, has maintained a watch for a monsoon circulation off the Odisha-Bengal coast during the last week of the month.
Extended forecast
IMD has said that widespread rainfall with isolated heavy falls is likely along the West Coast and the North-Eastern States from June 23 to 25. Fairly widespread to widespread rainfall is also likely over Andaman & Nicobar & Lakshadweep Islands and the South Peninsula while being isolated over North-West and Central India during this phase.
An update valid until yesterday evening said that rain or thundershowers lashed most places over Konkan and Goa until evening yesterday. Many places over Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Coastal Karnataka and a few places over Madhya Maharashtra also witnessed thundershowers during this period.