The period between March to June is generally considered as the pre-Monsoon period for the country. While, pre-Monsoon starts as early as the beginning of March for South India, on the other hand, North India sees the pre-Monsoon approaching as late as April start.
Pre-monsoon season is characterized by thunderstorm activity encompassing the country right from the hills of North to the coast of South India.
As a matter of fact, most of the thunderstorm activity remains confined to East and Northeast India (35%) followed by North India (which sees 30%) activity.
In East India, the elevated regions of Bihar and Jharkhand like Chotta Nagpur sees most of the activity. Major cities like Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Midnapore and Kolkata are a few cities that see maximum thunderstorms. If we talk about Northeast, then Meghalaya and adjoining areas see severe thunderstorms. These activities happen majorly in the later part of the day i.e. in either evening or nighttime over Northeast India whereas in East India it takes place in the afternoon or evening. Much of this activity is brought about as the geography which involves elevated region tends to block out the moisture incursion from Bay of Bengal.
Back in the North, the mountains behave quite differently. Major weather is brought about by Western Disturbances in this region. At times, the pre-Monsoon season even sees severe cloudbursts. Rajasthan on the other hand, due to its arid landscape sees massive dust storms and strong winds. The same manages to travel with the winds and covers entire northern plains. It even turns out to be a hazard for aviation sometimes. The same dust also traps the outgoing radiation, leading to rising temperatures and extended heatwave conditions.
Central India on the other hand, sees least amount of activity. The region remains quite untouched by weather systems. In fact, the western state of Gujarat doesn’t see any pre-Monsoon activity. The state’s proximity to the sea saves it from any major weather activity. Only Konkan and Goa in Central India sees thunderstorms in the month of May.
Down South, both wind discontinuity and a Trough right from either Telangana or Karnataka to Tamil Nadu brings weather activity over the region in pre-Monsoon season.
Image Credits – Amar Ujala
Any information taken from here should be credited to Skymet Weather