The Bay of Bengal sprang a surprise on Thursday as a conventional low-pressure area from the previous day intensified three times over to become a deep depression.
Ranked next only to a cyclone, the deep depression crossed Digha (Bengal) during the day and lay centred 25 km west-south-west of the Bengal town by Thursday evening and 180 km south-east of Jamshedpur in Jharkhand.
Storm may weaken today
It may weaken as a depression on Friday and subsequently as a well-marked ‘low’. Still, it has already presided over some very heavy rain over East India and parts of adjoining North-West India.
Heavy to very heavy rain with extremely heavy falls lashed Odisha, while it was heavy to very heavy rain over Uttar Pradesh, East Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh on Thursday.
The sweep of the rain bands was so all-pervading that the entire geography from North-East India to East India, East Madhya Pradesh, West Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Uttarakhand was impacted.
A week ago, the ensemble model of the US National Weather Service had indicated that the Bay may come up with a strong system in early September. It does not see another major development along the East Coast, but does not rule out friendly circulations. These may pop up over North Tamil Nadu/South Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Head Bay of Bengal, and the South Gujarat-North Konkan, in that order, over the next 10-12 days.
Heavy rain forecast
A detailed India Met Department (IMD) outlook for Friday said that heavy to very heavy rain is likely over Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh while being heavy over Odisha, all the North-Eastern States, Jharkhand, West Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, East Rajasthan, Konkan, Goa, Vidarbha and Telangana.
The forecast for Odisha, which sits bang under the footprint of the deep depression, said that widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy extremely heavy falls is likely while it would be heavy on Saturday.
The adjoining areas of the plains of Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh may also receive widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy falls on Friday. It will be isolated to heavy over North Coastal Andhra Pradesh while being heavy over Telangana and Vidarbha on both Friday and Saturday.
Meanwhile, the all-India rainfall statistics till date showed a deficit of 7 per cent till date, with Rayalaseema (-47 per cent) and Lakshadweep (-44 per cent) in the South topping the charts.