Low-pressure area pumps up weather over North, East

Evolving weather activity over North India has suddenly gathered momentum overnight with an incoming strong and active western disturbance setting up a rare low-pressure area over West Rajasthan and neighbourhood.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the parent western disturbance lay over North Pakistan on Friday while its offspring cyclonic circulation moving ahead of it had intensified into a low-pressure over West Rajasthan. After feeding on enormous moisture swept in by its north-westerly to south-westerly winds, this low was rustling up the weather over North-West India.

Good moisture feed

This moisture is being pumped up into the heights along the hills (the Himalayas) where it is falling down as heavy rain/snow, and widespread rains over the plains across Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Active western disturbances most often induce the formation of cyclonic circulations, but rarely do they intensify as a low-pressure areas.

Meanwhile, the IMD said that a successor disturbance would enter North-West India by March 10. International forecasts say that this could likely be another strong weather system capable of spawning a second successive induced low-pressure area over North-West India. Extended forecast valid from March 11 to 13 said that scattered to fairly widespread rain/snowfall is likely over the hills of North-West India and East India. Isolated to scattered rainfall is forecast for North-East India, Kerala and Lakshadweep, signalling the reach and depth of the incoming system.

An IMD outlook said that the prevailing disturbance and the induced low would cause the ongoing widespread rainfall or snowfall to continue over the hills of North-West India till tomorrow (Saturday). The rain and snow may decrease significantly thereafter as the low breaks up and weakens.

Isolated heavy rain/snowfall is likely over Jammu & Kashmir Friday and Saturday. Fairly widespread to widespread light to moderate rainfall/thundershowers would continue over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh while it would be scattered-light to moderate over Rajasthan till tomorrow (Friday).

Thunderstorms for East

Confluence between westerly winds associated with the western disturbance and moist easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal is expected to continue until tomorrow over Central and East India. Moderate-scattered to fairly widespread rainfall with isolated thunderstorm, lightning/hail/gusty wind (speed reaching 30-40 km/hr) were forecast for Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim, Odisha and the North-Eastern States on Thursday.

Outlook for tomorrow (Saturday) said that thunderstorms accompanied with lightning and hail is likely over Uttarakhand; with lightning and gusty winds (speed reaching 30-40 km/hr) over Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim, Odisha, Assam and Meghalaya; and with lightning over Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, East Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.