Southwest Monsoon continued to remain active giving good rains over many parts of the country during the first few days of July. Currently, Monsoon rains are more prominent over East and Central India along with the West Coast.
Southwest Monsoon activity is mainly driven by the two arms namely the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea branch. While sometimes both of these branches work in tandem with one another, on other occasions one of the arms is more active than the other. Monsoon systems that develop are also a result of currents in either the Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea.
Currently, the Bay of Bengal branch is more active. Due to the well-marked low pressure earlier formed in the Bay of Bengal, good rains are lashing both the eastern and the central parts of the country. However, activity in the Arabian Sea has not been picking up.
Until yesterday, the progress of Monsoon was taking place under the influence of the Bay of Bengal current. While Monsoon has progressed over the Kutch region due to the Arabian Sea branch, the seasonal current in the Arabian Sea is still weak.
Also, a well-marked tropical storm Nepartak has also formed in the West Pacific. The storm has intensified into a category 1 Typhoon, and in the next 24 hours further intensification is also likely after which the system will become a category 2 storm.
This storm is the first strong system in the Pacific and it may dampen the ongoing pace of Monsoon over the entire country. The current in the Bay of Bengal will also get divided as it will also be feeding moisture to the typhoon in the Pacific.
Due to this, rainfall activity will not be intense over the southern region. Also, the existing well-marked low-pressure area will continue to give good rain over East and Central India only. So much so that most of the rainfall activity will occur over these areas.
Image Credit: thehindu.com
Please Note: Any information picked from here must be attributed to skymetweather.com
