Southwest Monsoon is going through a weak phase since the beginning of July. All thanks to the typhoons in the western Pacific.
Monsoon in India generally gets influenced by Typhoons in the western Pacific. They have a great bearing over the flow of Monsoon current over the Indian seas.
These typhoons generally have a long sea travel and they keep gaining strength all along. They lose strength and weaken only after moving to the cooler waters of higher latitudes, beyond 30°N.
Typhoon in the Western Pacific
At the moment, the western Pacific Ocean is very active. Skymet has been following the track of all the three tropical storms, Linfa, Chan-hom and Nangka, right from their inception.
The tropical storm Linfa is moving towards Southeast China Sea and could make landfall over the Southeast China Coast within next 24 hours. Earlier the storm was moving towards Taiwan, but changed its track on Tuesday.
Closely following Linfa is the Category 1 storm Chan-hom, which is likely to strengthen into a Category 4 storm within next 48 hours. It could make landfall after 72 hours as a Category 3 storm over Southeast China Coast.
The third storm, Nangka, could skirt away from Japan and keep moving northwards in the open sea. While brushing Japan, it will bring inclement weather over parts of the country.
Monsoon in India
Monsoon rain in India is still below normal. However, situation in the Indian Ocean seems to be improving a little now. The cumulative rainfall figure for the country was 3 mm a couple of days back , while it has now improved to 5.5 mm. Normally, we should receive around 9 mm of rain.
Monsoon activity will not be restored even after the typhoons make landfall. Southwest Monsoon will gain strength and inch closer towards normal only after July 11.
Image credit - Pakistan Meteorological Department
