The low pressure area in westcentral Bay of Bengal and the adjoining coastal areas of north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha has been lingering on for some time. Another weather system, an upper air cyclonic circulation, developed on the last day of 2014 over eastcentral and northeast Arabian Sea and adjoining south Gujarat coast. A trough can be seen extending from this system towards Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi.
Consequently, the interaction of southwesterly winds coming from the Arabian Sea and southeasterly winds from the Bay of Bengal created a convergence zone over Central parts of India. This could be the reason why Madhya Pradesh welcomed the New Year with fairly widespread rain.
Rain in Central India
In a span of 24 hours from 8.30 am on Thursday, Betul received 54.2 mm of rain, Rewa 45.2 mm, Satna 37.4 mm, Panchmari 35 mm, Jabalpur 27.1 mm and Umaria 26.2 mm of rain.
Maximum temperature came down 10 degrees below normal and settled at 14.2°C in the capital city, Bhopal. After receiving 12.4 mm of rain, maximum in Khajuraho also plunged way below normal at 16°C. However, in view of rain and clouding minimum temperatures witnessed a marginal rise across the state.
Odisha and isolated parts over Gangetic West Bengal received good showers from the system in the Bay of Bengal. In last 24 hours, Paradip recorded 82.5 mm of rain, Chandbali 51 mm, Puri 46.2 mm, Angul 28.8 mm, Balasore 15.4 mm and Bhubaneswar 13 mm of rain.
In West Bengal, Asansol received 5.6 mm of rain, Digha 12.4 mm and Kolkata 2.3 mm of rain.
Rain in North and East India
Light rain was observed at many places over east Uttar Pradesh as well. The feeble Western Disturbance moving across Jammu and Kashmir played in tandem with the low level system over Gujarat to bring rain in Delhi and adjoining areas. Both Safdarjung and Plam Observatory received 5.4 mm of rain in last 24 hours. Ridge and Delhi University recorded 3.4 mm and 4 mm of rain, respectively. Day temperatures have dropped drastically across the national capital region. Delhiites will witness a chilly day and maximums are expected to hover around 15°C on Friday.
The rain belt is shifting eastwards, from Central India and Delhi to East India. Within next 24 to 48 hours, Uttarakhand will receive good snowfall. South Himachal Pradesh and the Himalayan Nepal will also receive some precipitation. Rain will continue in East India as well.
