IMD national weather forecast and temperatures: Tuesday, February 4

January has ended up the rainiest since 2005, having logged an excess of 63 per cent for the entire country. Region-wise, South India was only one in deficit (-21 per cent) while the rest reported excess rainfall. Central India topped with +84 per cent; followed by the North-West at +70 per cent; and East and North-East India at 51 per cent, according to private forecaster Skymet Weather.

Elaborating, Jatin Singh, Managing Director, Skymet Weather, said that the metros of New Delhi and Kolkata exceeded their monthly quota of rainfall for January. The spread and intensity of rains over the Northern plains and East India, too, has been very good from an agricultural point of view. Uttarakhand in the hills of North-West India recorded an all-time high of snow with an excess of 235 per cent. Other parts of the hills too received record-breaking snow.

Kolkata woke up to a hazy morning on Tuesday. Photo: Debasish Bhaduri

Action shifts East and North-East

This week, the weather activity has shifted from the North to the Eastern parts of the country, leaving the hills of the North-West with some light rain and snow from two weak western disturbances today (Tuesday) with more forecast for the day after (Thursday). The plains of the North comprising of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi NCR may not witness much activity either. North India will broadly have sunny days with cold and misty mornings; some pockets might experience dense fog and night temperatures in single digits.

‘Good weather’ over Central India

In Central India, Gujarat may observe good weather with a slight dip in temperature in the second half of the week. Most other parts such as East Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, will likely observe unseasonal rain and thundershowers with the intensity increasing on Friday and Saturday, and accompanied by hail at some places. As for the East, light rains and thunderstorms are expected over Jharkhand and Bengal in two phases, the first today and tomorrow and a second and more intense phase for three days from Thursday.

Early summer for South India?

In the North-East, weather activity may be confined mostly to Arunachal Pradesh except for the last two days of the week when it spreads to South Assam, Mizoram and Tripura. In South India, the South Peninsula (mainly Kerala, Tamil Nadu and adjoining Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh) is likely to be generally free from any signs of any type of weather activity. However, occasional light rains are expected over Coastal Tamil Nadu especially on Saturday and Sunday. It has been observed that South India has been observing an untimely rise in temperatures, which might also indicate an early arrival of summer.

A clear sky over the Visvesvaraya Towers in Bengaluru, on Tuesday. Photo: GRN Somashekar

IMD outlook for two days

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said this this morning that an incoming western disturbance had reached Afghanistan. It is likely to cause isolated to scattered rain/snow over the hills of North-West India (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) till tomorrow. Towards the East of the country, moist easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal will continue to interact with cold and dry westerly winds from West and North-West India, resulting in isolated to scattered rainfall/thundershowers over Central and East India for two more days. Isolated hailstorms/thunderstorms are also likely over East Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh till tomorrow (Wednesday).

East, Central India to stay wet

A feeble fresh western disturbance will affect the hills of North-West India Thursday night, and keep weather activity to the minimum over the region. But the action will once again sustain over East and adjoining Central India with moist easterly winds from the Bay continuing to ram into cold and dry westerly winds, resulting in scattered to fairly widespread rainfall/thundershowers over East India and isolated to scattered rainfall or thundershowers over Central India on Thursday and Friday. Isolated hailstorms/thunderstorms are also likely over Chhattisgarh during the same period.

Clouds over coastal Tamil Nadu

Satellite pictures at 11.30 am this (Tuesday) morning showed clouds along Coastal Tamil Nadu and the adjoining interior covering Tirunelveli, Tondi, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Nagapattinam, Salem, Puducherry, Vellore and Chennai and extending into Tirupati, Nellore, Vijayawada, Macherla, Kakinada, Visakhapatnam, and Srikakulam (Andhra Pradesh); Brahmapur, Rayagada, Bhubaneswar, Kamakhyanagar, and Bhawanipatna (Odisha); Korba and Kapsi (Chhattisgarh); Shahdol, Jabalpur, Chhindwara (dense thunderstorms) and Betul (Madhya Pradesh); Gonda (Uttar Pradesh); Amravati, Nagpur, and Chandrapur (Maharashtra); and Ramagundam and Warangal (Telangana).