Northeast India has been receiving largely patchy rainfall in the first half of May. But after 48 hours or so, the region is expected to receive widespread heavy rainfall, triggered by moist southerly winds. In the last 24 hours, Northeast India has witnessed good isolated rainfall. However, more intense and evenly spread out heavy rainfall is expected over the weekend.
Generally, Northeast India receives good pre-Monsoon activity every year. This activity becomes more intense in May with most of the stations in the region receiving 300 mm of rainfall (on an average) in the month. However, the first half of May has not seen evenly spread heavy activity yet. The patchy nature of pre-Monsoon in Northeast India has been quite evident with only isolated heavy rain being recorded in the region. For example, in the last 24 hours,Tezpurrecorded 69 mm rainfall whileGuwahatireceived just 3 mm rainfall. Similarly, Lakhimpur recorded 20 mm rainfall andDibrugarhreceived only 1 mm rainfall.
Widespread heavy activity takes place in Northeast India when moist southerly winds are pushed from Bay of Bengal towards the region. These winds are the main source of widespread rain and thunderstorm activity in this part of the country. Currently, a cyclonic circulation exists in the west central Bay. This system has been giving heavy rainfall over South India. But now, the system is gradually shifting upwards and away from the coast. This will give birth to southerly winds which will then cause rainfall over Northeast India. At first, lower parts of Assam, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh will be affected. Later on, the activity will spread to upper portions of these states.
Normally, in the month of May, Guwahati receives 256 mm rainfall, Dibrugarh receives 290 mm rainfall, andSilcharreceives 461 mm rainfall. So far, Guwahati has recorded 140 mm rainfall and Dibrugarh has witnessed 127 mm rainfall. With pre-Monsoon activity expected to gain intensity over the weekend, these figures are likely to receive a generous push.
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