India received 70% more rains during this week than it usually does at this time
There has been heavy rainfall in the country’s northwestern and central parts from June 1-7, 2020. Photo: Needpix.com As of June 7, 2020, the south west monsoon has advanced into parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu after its onset over Kerala on June 1, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). It has also covered parts of west central, east central, north west and north east Bay of Bengal.
IMD predicts that the monsoon winds will progress further into Goa, coastal Andhra Pradesh, the remaining parts of Tamil Nadu, some parts of Karnataka and the north eastern states in the next two or three days. It will also cover the central Arabian Sea and northern Bay of Bengal.
After that, the monsoon will move into Maharashtra, Telangana, Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal and Sikkim by June 12.
In the week from June 1-7, India, as a whole, has received 70 per cent more rains than it usually does during this time of the year. There has been heavy rainfall in the country’s north western and central parts.
While the central region has received 157 per cent more rainfall than it normally receives, the north western region has received 115 per cent more rainfall than normal. The southern and eastern regions have received 30 per cent and 33 per cent rains respectively.
The increased rainfall activity in central India was due to the incursion of Cyclone Nisarga that made landfall near Alibaug on June 3. This is because of the cyclonic system pulling the monsoonal moisture inland.
“In recent years, we have seen quite a number of cyclones forming in the Arabian Sea close to the monsoon onset. We don’t know yet if this is part of a rising trend,” Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, said.
“We were expecting that the monsoon wind conditions (wind shear) would suppress the low-pressure system, despite the conducive ocean conditions,” he explained. However, it seems the ocean has won in terms of triggering a cyclone.
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