The Hindu Business Line : Heat wave in North may abate soon

Moderate heat wave conditions persisting in the Northwest and Central India will hold until Saturday when a fresh western disturbance of moderate intensity is expected to approach the Northwest bringing widespread rains and snow to the hills.

Isolated rains or thundershowers are expected to move into the adjoining plains of Punjab, Haryana and West Uttar Pradesh during the four days from Saturday, according to the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF).

Dr K.J. Ramesh of the NCMRWF said temperatures have been marginally higher this year, which augured well from a monsoon point of view.

Prediction continues to suggest that day temperatures over Northwest and Central India are likely to rise by two to three degree Celsius until Saturday/Sunday and come down thereafter.

It is expected that certain locations in the region would witness day temperatures peaking beyond the 40-degree Celsius mark. However, no large change in night temperatures is expected.

Rain forecasts

Meanwhile, the moisture feed from a warming Bay of Bengal to the southeast has been persisting, setting up convective clouds that triggered rain and thundershowers in the north-eastern states for the second day on Thursday. Fairly widespread rain with isolated to scattered hailstorms/squalls have been indicated in these regions for the coming days as well.

Thunderstorm activity with hailstorm/squall is also likely at a few places over West Bengal and Sikkim, while it will be isolated over Kerala, South Interior Karnataka, Rayalaseema, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar during the next two-three days.

In region-wise forecast for the next four days, the NCMRWF said that isolated to scattered rainfall is expected over the Bay Islands, coastal Tamil Nadu, South interior Karnataka, Rayalaseema and Kerala during the next two-three days.

Excess rain in TN

Pre-monsoon showers in the meteorological sub-division of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry (March 1-29) continued to be in excess in all districts except in Cuddalore (-42 per cent) and Theni (-49 per cent) where it has been deficient.

High rain records (in percentage figures) were reported from the districts of Kancheepuram (+530); Madurai (+472); Villupuram (+401) and Virudhunagar (+358). The district of Chennai recorded excess rain of 265 per cent during the period.