Subdued rainfall is likely across South India over the next week

RAINFALL activity is likely to remain subdued across southern peninsular India over the next week, with most areas expected to receive only isolated to scattered showers, even as a low-pressure system triggers intense rainfall over parts of central India, according to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).

The weather department said isolated to scattered rainfall is likely across coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, Kerala and Mahe, north interior Karnataka, Rayalaseema, south interior Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal, and Telangana during 4-9 September.

Within the southern peninsula, coastal Karnataka is expected to be the main exception, with fairly widespread to widespread rainfall forecast during 4-9 September. Lakshadweep is also likely to see fairly widespread to widespread rainfall during 8-9 September.

The relatively subdued rainfall outlook comes as the monsoon remains more active over central, northern and parts of eastern India. A well-marked low-pressure area over north-east Madhya Pradesh and adjoining areas is expected to bring isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall over Madhya Pradesh during 4-5 September.

Forecast for central India

In north-west India, fairly widespread to widespread rainfall is expected over Himachal Pradesh during 4-5 September and Uttarakhand through 9 September. Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and adjoining areas are likely to receive widespread rainfall on 4 September, with isolated to scattered showers expected again during 5-9 September.

Punjab is likely to see isolated to scattered rainfall throughout 4-9 September, while Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi are expected to receive such rainfall during 6-9 September. West Uttar Pradesh is likely to get showers during 7-9 September, while east Uttar Pradesh could see rainfall on 4-5 September and again on 9 September.

Rajasthan is also expected to receive intermittent rainfall. West Rajasthan is likely to see isolated to scattered showers during 4-6 September, while east Rajasthan is forecast to receive rainfall on 3 September and again during 5-9 September.

In eastern India, fairly widespread to widespread rainfall is forecast over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim during 4-9 September. Gangetic West Bengal is likely to receive widespread rainfall during 4-5 September and again from 7-9 September. Bihar is expected to see widespread rainfall on 4-5 September and 9 September, while Jharkhand could receive such rainfall during 8-9 September.

The North-East is also likely to remain wet, with widespread rainfall forecast over Arunachal Pradesh during 5-8 September, Assam and Meghalaya during 4 September and 6-8 September, and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura through 9 September.

The weather system comes as several parts of central and northern India have already recorded intense rainfall. In the past 24 hours, very heavy rainfall of 12- 20 cm was recorded at isolated places over Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, east Madhya Pradesh and west Uttar Pradesh. Heavy rainfall of 7- 11 cm was reported in parts of Gangetic West Bengal, Bihar, Uttarakhand, east Uttar Pradesh, west Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Maharashtra and Assam.

Meanwhile, India’s cumulative rainfall during the south-west monsoon season remained 13% below normal through 3 September, with the country receiving 624.5mm of rainfall against the normal 724.1mm for the period from 1 June, according to the weather department.