Heavy clouds have developed over West and West-Central Bay of Bengal this morning in anticipation of a cyclonic circulation expected to form here during the next 24 hours.
Satellite pictures show the clouds growing off the coast of Chennai, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha into the Central Bay. A cyclonic circulation could direct some of these towards land and bring rain.
CIRCULATION IN BAY
In fact, a wind profile map of the India Met Department indicates that a weak circulation may have already formed over North-East Bay of Bengal.
This is expected to move south-southwestwards towards the Odisha and Andhra Pradesh coast and enter the Andhra Pradesh coast likely as a low-pressure area.
This could bring about moderate to heavy rain over the East India, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh coasts before growing heavier over Madhya Pradesh and adjoining northern parts of Maharashtra.
The rain belt is forecast to move further west over Central India and bring heavy rain over Gujarat over the next four to five days.
RAIN FOR GUJARAT
In fact, Gujarat and adjoining Central India would be hit by another wave of heavy rainfall as a follow-up circulation tracks an almost similar path across Central India and adjoining North Peninsula.
The low-pressure area is seen as intensifying into a likely depression with heavy to very heavy rain as it approaches West Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Konkan-Mumbai by August 25.
According to a US agency outlook, these systems moving across the peninsula one after the other are expected to bring normal to above-normal rain to the South Peninsula and along the West Coast.
A number of stations in these regions have remained mostly rain-deficient during July and until mid-August, after anchoring systems such as these chose to keep away from the region.