Monsoon conditions have further strengthened over Central India and along the West Coast with typical atmospheric signatures becoming even more prominent by this (Thursday) afternoon.

First, a causative low-pressure area remains more or less unchanged from its position over Coastal Odisha from yesterday (Wednesday) evening, as pointed out by India Met Department (IMD).

Stagnating `low’

For one, a stagnating 'low' can generate more rain over a sustained period than one keeps moving, as evidenced best in how Category-5 hurricane Dorian kept on the islands for an extended period a couple of days ago.

For another, the land-based monsoon trough over North-West and Central India returned to being 'active,' receiving oodles of moisture from both the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

Thirdly, the East to West shear zone of monsoon turbulence that oversees and guides the monsoon play-out from the higher levels of the atmosphere stays put over Central India.

And last but not the least, the offshore trough along the West Coast now lies extended right down from South Gujarat coast to Kerala, signalling how strong the flows are over the Arabian Sea.

This is despite the much stronger Pacific typhoon 'Lingling' pulling away from a chunk of the monsoon flows, though its impact is felt over parts of North-West India where the monsoon is muted currently.

The IMD sees fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy falls over Konkan & Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Gujarat, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha for next three more days.

More heavy rains

Extremely heavy rainfall are likely at isolated places over Gujarat during the next two days; over Konkan & Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, North Coastal Andhra Pradesh and South Odisha tomorrow (Friday).

Extremely heavy rainfall is forecast also at isolated places over South Chhattisgarh on Friday and East Vidarbha on Saturday, as the monsoon continues to holds on strong.

But subdued activity (isolated to scattered rainfall) may continue over Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and the Northern parts of Rajasthan during the next three to four days.

The IMD has not yet indicated the date of likely withdrawal of the monsoon from West Rajasthan, which should normally have begun from the first day of September, the last monsoon month.

The rains have stopped for now over these Met subdivisions, but global models suspect the Bay of Bengal would send out another wave of rainfall over Central India that could block the withdrawal process if initiated.

The IMD said that West and North-West India saw another 24 hours of heavy rain until 8.30 am this (Thursday) morning with Dharavi (31 cm); Mumbai (Santa Cruz, 24); and Matheran (20) topping the charts.

Fresh rain wave

The other major centres recording heavy to very heavy rainfall (in cm) during this period are Mahabaleshwar-19; Patiala-18; Bulsar and Harnai-14 each; Alibag-13; Gopalpur-11; Katra-10; Ludhiana-9; Dahanu, Seoni and Surendranagar-8 each; Mumbai (Colaba), Ratnagiri, Paradip, Tezpur and Lengpui-7 each.

An extended outlook from September 10 to 12 (Tuesday to Thursday) spoke about the possibility of an increase in rainfall activity over the North-Eastern States.

Fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy falls is likely over the North-Eastern States while it would be scattered to fairly widespread with isolated heavy falls likely over East and Central India and along the West Coast.

It would be Isolated to scattered over the rest of the country outside Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, West Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana where rainfall is likely to be isolated during this period.

Meanwhile, strong winds up to 50 km/hr in speed would prevail for the rest of today over Central and South-West Arabian Sea and Central and adjoining South Bay of Bengal.

Squally weather may prevail over the Gujarat-Maharashtra-Goa coast; Odisha-North Coastal Andhra Pradesh coast; and the North Andaman Sea and the islands. Fishermen are advised not to venture into these areas.

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