After a fortnight’s delay, the Southwest monsoon on Friday withdrew from entire northwest India. Between October 1-14, the region recorded 58.4 mm of rainfall, which was 346 per cent above normal. The presence of a cyclonic circulation over north Maharashtra on October 7, which moved along south Gujarat, northeast Rajasthan, southern Haryana and Punjab till October 11 led to a five-day-long rainfall over the northwest region, including Delhi-NCR. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said that the monsoon has now withdrawn from Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat along with most parts of Madhya Pradesh and some areas of Bihar and Maharashtra. The normal withdrawal date for the monsoon from Maharashtra and Bihar is October 5. Except for Maharashtra and Bihar, all these states recorded heavy rainfall from October 6-12, the IMD said. The monsoon withdrawal line now passes through Raxaul (Bihar), Daltonganj (Jharkhand), Pendra road (Chhattisgarh), Chhindwara (Madhya Pradesh), Jalgaon and Dahanu (both in Maharashtra). In the coming two to three days, the withdrawal is expected to pick the pace and further retreat from more areas in central and eastern India and Maharashtra, the Met department said. “Conditions are likely to become favourable for further withdrawal of the Southwest monsoon from more parts of Maharashtra, central, east and northeastern India during the next three days,” IMD’s weather bulletin on the monsoon withdrawal issued on Friday said. Meanwhile, enhanced rainfall activity over southern peninsular India will commence from Friday because of two active cyclonic circulations — over the west-central Bay of Bengal and near the Comorin region. Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal, Kerala, Mahe, Telangana, coastal Andhra Pradesh, coastal Karnataka, Lakshadweep and Rayalaseema will experience widespread heavy rainfall till October 17, the IMD said.
After a fortnight’s delay, the Southwest monsoon Friday withdrew from the entire northwest India region. Between October 1 and 13, this region recorded 58.3 mm rain, which was 366 per cent above normal.The persistent presence of a cyclonic circulation, which formed over north Maharashtra on October 7 and moved along south Gujarat, northeast Rajasthan, southern Haryana and Punjab, led to a five-day-long rainfall spell over northwest India and Delhi-NCR.The India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said that the monsoon has now withdrawn from the entire Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat along with most areas of Madhya Pradesh and some areas of Bihar and Maharashtra. The normal date for the monsoon to start withdrawing from Maharashtra and Bihar is October 5. Except for Maharashtra and Bihar, all of these states have recorded heavy rainfall during the October 6-12 period, IMD officials said.The monsoon withdrawal line now passes through Raxaul, Daltonganj, Pendra road, Chhindwara, Jalgaon and Dahanu.In the coming days, the withdrawal is expected to pick up pace and spread to more areas of central India regions, the Met department said.“Conditions are very likely to become favourable for the further withdrawal of the Southwest monsoon from more parts of Maharashtra, central, east and northeastern India during the next three days,” IMD’s weather bulletin on the monsoon withdrawal, issued Friday afternoon, said.Meanwhile, enhanced rainfall activity over southern peninsular India will commence from Friday in view of two active cyclonic circulations — over west-central Bay of Bengal, near Comorin region. Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal, Kerala, Mahe, Telangana, coastal Andhra Pradesh, coastal Karnataka, Lakshadweep and Rayalaseema will experience widespread heavy rainfall till October 17.
WITHIN THE first fortnight of October, multiple favourable weather systems brought 82.5 mm of rainfall over the country, 88 per cent above the Long Period Average (LPA). This was more than the climatological normal of 76 mm of rainfall for the month. The country received 82.5 mm of rainfall during October 1-14 of which 58.5 mm of rainfall took place during October 6-12, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. October is the first post-monsoon month during which the southwest monsoon normally withdraws from the entire northwest and most parts of central India by the middle of the month giving way to dry conditions. However, rainfall trends during recent years, including 2022, point towards a ‘delayed’ monsoon withdrawal because of which rainfall activity continues over north and central regions until the third week of October. Due to such delayed exit, the onset of the Northeast monsoon over southern parts of the country also gets pushed beyond the normal date of October 21. Since 1901, only 25 per cent of October months have reported an all-India rainfall of over 80 mm. The country saw its wettest October during 1975 (121.7 mm of rainfall) and 1961 (121.3 mm of rainfall), according to data from the IMD. Likewise, rainfall of over 58.4 mm (346 per cent excess) during the fortnight of this month over the northwest India region is rare, IMD’s data suggests. Northwest India recorded rainfall exceeding 50 mm in October only on 13 occasions between 1901-2022 (till October 14) and twice in this century (2004 and 2022). The latest long rainfall spell — between October 7 and 11 — was associated with the cyclonic circulation in lower atmospheric levels emerging over north Madhya Maharashtra on October 7 and its subsequent movement over south Gujarat, northeast Rajasthan, south Haryana and Punjab. This system attracted moist winds from the Bay of Bengal which interacted with the passing western disturbances, resulting in one of the wettest October spells over Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. “This interaction caused such an extremely long spell over northwest India, including Delhi-NCR,” said IMD in its weekly weather analysis report.
While many in the city are hoping for a respite from rains, the city has till October 11 received 117 millimetres (mm) of rain as compared to the average of 89 mm rain that Mumbai gets for the entire month.Unlike the past few years, Mumbai has seen high-intensity rainfall this October. According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), in the past 10 years, there have been only four instances (including this year) when Mumbai saw monthly October rainfall surpassing the 100-mm mark.According to figures from the IMD’s Santacruz weather stations, the highest monthly rainfall recorded in October was in 2012, when the city received 197.7 mm of rainfall, followed by 170.1 mm rainfall recorded in October 2020 and 120.1 mm rainfall recorded in October 2011. Meanwhile, the rainfall figure till October 11 this year is 117.7 mm, the fourth highest in one decade.Weather experts also stated that considering the current pattern, the overall rainfall quantity could breach 120 mm if the monsoon does not retreat anytime soon. The Santacruz observatory on October 8 (Saturday) had recorded 114 mm of rain in 24 hours and scientists from IMD, Mumbai, said that this year, the proportion of rainfall in October is higher than most years because of the heavy rainfall that took place between October 7 and October 8.“It has only rained heavily for 24 hours in October this year and the quantity of rainfall recorded between October 7 and 8 is equivalent to overall monthly rainfall figures,” said Sushma Nair, a scientist from IMD, Mumbai. Nair said that light to moderate spells of rain will continue in the city till the end of this weekend and there is a forecast for thunderstorms as well. “The rainfall in Mumbai is occurring due to a climatic trough that has extended between coastal Andhra Pradesh and interior parts of Maharashtra, due to which there has been presence of moisture in the air, which is leading to rain in Mumbai and its adjoining parts,” said Nair.Mahesh Palawat, a weather expert and meteorologist from Skymet weathers, said there is a possibility of monsoon withdrawal from the state in the next 10 days. “Between September and October, two low pressure points had developed in the Bay of Bengal, which later moved towards Madhya Pradesh. Whenever there is low-pressure movement in central India, rainfall in Maharashtra and Gujarat intensifies. This is the reason why we are recording rainfall in October this year,” said Palawat.“Monsoon may now start gradually retreating from Maharashtra but it will take at least 10 days to make a concrete prediction on this,” said Palawat.
The withdrawal of monsoon from Mumbai is likely to get delayed by a few more days as rain continued to lash the city on Friday evening. Earlier, forecasting a possibility of thunderstorms, accompanied with light to moderate rains and gusty winds in Mumbai, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued an yellow alert for Friday (October 14) and Sunday (October 16).Till 5.30 pm on Friday, IMD’s Santacruz observatory recorded 13.3 millimetres (mm) of rainfall. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) rainfall data showed that areas in eastern suburbs recorded rainfall above 50 mm. The BMC data stated that Vikhroli experienced 61 mm of rain till 7 pm on Friday, followed by 51 mm in Ghatkopar. Nearly 36 mm of rain was recorded in Andheri and Vile Parle in the western suburbs. Meanwhile, Antop Hill and Wadala recorded 30 mm and 16 mm of rain, respectively, on Friday. The rainfall recorded by IMD’s observatory in October currently stands at 167 mm, the third highest figure in the last 10 years. “Friday onward, the monsoon started to withdraw from northern parts of central Maharashtra, namely Dhule, Jalgaon and Nandurbar. Currently, there is presence of moisture in Mumbai weather, therefore it will take some time for the monsoon to entirely withdraw from here,” said an IMD official. Mahesh Palawat, a weather expert and meteorologist from Skymet weathers, said there is possibility of monsoon withdrawal from Mumbai in the next 10 days. “Between September and October, two low-pressure points had developed in the Bay of Bengal, which later moved towards Madhya Pradesh. Whenever there is a low-pressure movement in central India, rainfall in Maharashtra and Gujarat intensifies. This is the reason why we are recording rainfall in October this year,” said Palawat.Meanwhile, eight incoming flights to Mumbai were diverted to various nearby airports due to heavy rain in Mumbai.Authorities of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport have advised all passengers to check their flight status with the respective airlines, said a spokesperson of Mumbai airport.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast rainfall over Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, west Madhya Pradesh and Haryana till Tuesday.Uttar Pradesh has been receiving rain towards the end of the season. This is unusual for the second week of October, especially over western Uttar Pradesh, where some of the wettest locations on Sunday were Chandausi with 190 mm rain, Aligarh and Baheri (160 mm each), Narora (140 mm), Kasganj (110 mm) and Vridavan (90 mm).In near-record rainfall over eastern Rajasthan in October, many places in Alwar and Bharatpur districts recorded extremely heavy rain — more than 204 mm in 24-hours. These included Sewabundh (230 mm), Kotkasim (210 mm), Bharatpur tehsil (180 mm) and Viratnagar and Govindgarh (150 mm each).According to the IMD, there is a cyclonic circulation over east Rajasthan and its interactions with the fresh western disturbances will make conditions more favourable for thunderstorms, lightning and fairly widespread light to moderate intensity rainfall along east Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh over the next two days.From this cyclonic circulation, there is a trough running till Gujarat due to which there has been an increase in rainfall over Gujarat. Delhi on Friday recorded 74 mm rainfall in 24-hours.This year, the monsoon withdrawal has remained nearly stalled due to the cyclonic circulation formed in the Bay of Bengal, which moved towards Uttar Pradesh last week. There is a delay of seven to 10 days in the monsoon withdrawal from parts of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, southwest Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.The coming week will also see rainfall picking up over Maharashtra due to the increasing moisture coming in from both the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, said IMD, Pune.Likewise, Tamil Nadu, the Karaikal coastal Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Yanam and Kerala, too, will experience wet days till October 13.
SURAT: The city and parts of Surat district started receiving rain since Friday night and rain continued throughout the day on Saturday. It led to waterlogging in parts of the city for a couple of hours on Saturday. Because of rain in the catchment area of Ukai reservoir, inflow of water at the dam was recorded at 66,050 cusecs while 52,414 cusecs of water was being released from the dam. Water level at Ukai dam was 345.12ft against the maximum water level of 345ft The water level at the weir-cum-causeway in the city was at 7.35 metre and 77,255 cusecs of water was being released from it. On Friday, Subir in Dang district received 109mm rain which was the highest in the state for the day. Heavy rain continued in other parts of south Gujarat on Saturday as well. Umarpada in Surat district received 57mm rain since 6am on Saturday. In Surat district’s Palsana taluka, 53mm rain was recorded while in Jalalpore of Navsari 51mm rain was reported. Olpad in Surat received 47mm rain while 19mm rain was reported in Bardoli. In Surat city, 15mm rain was reported. It led to waterlogging in parts of the city for a couple of hours. Traffic movement was obstructed on Kadodara road and Sachin road in Pandesara. Later, water receded. Citizens were stuck in traffic jams at many places due to heavy traffic on roads.
Monsoon was active over Gujarat Friday as districts of Dang, Surat, Kheda, Amreli, Mahisagar, Anand, Vadodara and Sabarkantha received heavy rainfall and were among 94 total talukas to record rainfall. The weather department has issued a forecast of light to moderate rainfall across the state till October 11. As the Southwest monsoon has not completely withdrawn from Gujarat, the state is expected to receive rainfall in the coming days, said India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials.“The withdrawal of southwest monsoon from the state is not complete. Central and South parts of the state are likely to receive good rainfall till October 11,” IMD regional director Manorama Mohanty told The Indian Express.For Saturday, heavy rains in the districts of South Gujarat region namely Bharuch and Surat are expected, stated the weather department.On October 9, heavy rains very likely at isolated places in the districts of South Gujarat region namely Bharuch and Surat and October 10 in the districts of North Gujarat region namely Aravalli and Mahisagar.
AHMEDABAD: The withdrawal of southwest monsoon from Gujarat began with parts of Kutch on Tuesday. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast, the rains will recede from some other parts of the state over the next few days. While light to moderate showers are likely in parts of the state, especially coastal Saurashtra and South Gujarat, the likelihood of heavy rains is very low. The maximum temperature in the city on Tuesday was lower than normal at 33.8 degrees celsius.
After its four-month-long sojourn, Southwest monsoon will start withdrawing from northwest India and Kutch regions of Gujarat in the coming two days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday.The Met department said that dry weather along with anti-cyclonic wind flow is likely to prevail over northwest India covering Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana.“Conditions are becoming favourable for the withdrawal of the Southwest monsoon from parts of Northwest India during the next two days,” the IMD officials said.This year, northwest India received 538.7 mm of rainfall till September 18, which was quantitatively 4 per cent below normal levels. Barring Punjab, most states in this region including Rajasthan, Haryana, and Chandigarh, have received either normal or above rainfall.Meanwhile, some parts of eastern central India are yet again bracing for a wet spell in view of the formation of a fresh low-pressure system in the Bay of Bengal on Monday.“The system will move northwestwards and move towards the Odisha coast and intensify during the next 24 hours,” the IMD said in its latest bulletin issued on Monday.With the strengthening of the low-pressure system, Odisha will receive very heavy rain spells (115.5 to 204.4mm in 24 hours) till Wednesday.Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, too, will experience enhanced rainfall during the next two days, the Met department said. These three regions will remain on ‘orange’ alert till September 21.
Gandhinagar: A day before the assembly’s monsoon session, the state government on Tuesday faced protests from groups representing farmers, cattle rearers, and employees of several departments. The two-day session of the Gujarat assembly begins on Wednesday.Farmers opposing the Bharat Mala highway project staged a protest in Gandhinagar, alleging that they have been compensated poorly for land. Farmers from Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar and other districts joined the protest.Cow-rearing communities and gaushala trusts staged a protest at Satyagrah Chhavni in Gandhinagar. These communities oppose any cattle control bill while the trusts that run panjarapols (cow shelters) for sick cows are demanding that the government give them the grants promised in the last budget. Cattle rearers have threatened to stop milk supply on Wednesday as part of their protest.Van Rakshaks from the forest department staged a massive protest outside the secretariat and Aranya Bhavan over long-pending demands. Health and anganwadi workers have also been protesting for many days in Gandhinagar.
GANDHINAGAR: A large number of cattle rears from across the state assembled at Shertha in Gandhinagar district on Sunday and made a demand to the state government to scrap the law against stray cattle in urban areas. While cattle rearers have been protesting in different districts over the past weeks, the meeting at Shertha on Sunday was attended by 'maldharis' from across the state. Nagjibhai Desai, spokesperson of Gujarat Maldhari Panchayat, said, "The entire community of cattle rearers has unanimously resolved to demand that the law against stray cattle be scrapped. We expect he government to do so in the coming assembly session." A two-day session of the Gujarat assembly will be held on September 21 and 22. Earlier, the state government had announced that it will keep the law against stray cattle in abeyance. However, following stringent directions from the high court, the government and urban bodies are under pressure to keep stray cattle off the roads. TNN
GANDHINAGAR: The two-day monsoon session of the Gujarat assembly from Wednesday is expected to be stormy as opposition parties and the government employees' unions have planned protests. The pastoral community has also decided against selling milk across the state on September 21 to protest the cattle control bill. Congress and other parties are likely to corner the state government on various issues like lumpy skin disease, inflation, and restoration of the employees' old pension scheme. The opposition has also demanded extension of the monsoon session, saying that two days were not enough to discuss all the issues. B P Sinh Rawat, the president of National Old Pension Restoration United Front, issued a statement announcing that the government employees will march towards the state assembly on September 21 demanding the restoration of the old pension scheme. He has also appealed to all the employees' unions to extend their support and join the peaceful march. The statement said, "It is a march for justice for five lakh government employees." The Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) employees' union has been agitating against the government over their pending demands. They have given a call to withdraw state transport buses from the roads as a mark of protest on September 21 and 22. If they stick to the protest call, at least 40 per cent of the state secretariat employees will find it difficult to report to work in Gandhinagar.
AHMEDABAD: The questioning of Vipul Chaudhary, a former Gujarat minister arrested in the Rs 750 crore Dudhsagar Dairy scam case, has put his alleged links to two Maharashtra politicians under the scanner. The information was revealed on Monday by police. A team of the Gujarat Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on September 15 arrested Chaudhary, who once was Gujarat's minister of state for home. He was held for allegedly siphoning off Rs 750 crore from Mehsana District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union, popularly known as Dudhsagar Dairy. Chaudhary was chairman of Dudhsagar Dairy between 2005 and 2016 when the scam occurred, allegedly facilitated by his misuse of power. "Chaudhary, his wife Geeta and their son Pawan had floated at least 31 firms in Maharashtra through which they siphoned off Rs 320 crore," said a police officer. "In this act, they were helped by two big Maharashtra politicians along with many others from the dairy sector of Gujarat." When the cops went to the addresses of these firms, they found only residential buildings. Chaudhary's chartered accountant, Shailesh Parikh, from Ashram Road in Ahmedabad has also been arrested in the case. Geeta and Pawan have been charged with breach of trust, cheating, forgery, producing forged documents as genuine, and criminal conspiracy. The provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act have also been invoked against them. As for Geeta, an ACB officer said that she has been on the run since Chaudhary's arrest. "We have initiated the procedure to issue a lookout notice against Pawan, who is currently settled in the US," said the ACB officer. Another ACB officer said Chaudhary's response to many questions is the assertion that he can't recall anything. "To every question on financial matters, he says as the transactions took place long ago he does not remember them. He says many transactions occurred routinely so he would not be able to recall them," said the officer. Chaudhary is in the custody of the ACB till September 23.
From celebrating engineers’ day, live music and plays, to looking at historic narratives of Indian towns through Bulandshahr’s legacy, here’s all that’s happening in Gujarat this weekResilient Roads in the City: An ExperimentAbout the event: Celebrating Engineers’ day, the event entails the address by former chief scientist of CRRI, India, Mr. Sitaramanjaneyulu, felicitation ceremony, student presentation, structure inauguration, and so onVenue: Balwantrai. N. Brahmbhatt Lecture Hall, Faculty of Technology, CEPT UniversityOrganisers: Faculty of Technology, CEPT UniversityHow to attend: Open to allDate and time: September 17 (Saturday), 10:00 amCourt – film (English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi)About the event: Through the Mumbai’s sessions court trial of an aging protest singer, Narayan Kamble, who is accused of encouraging a manhole worker to commit suicide through one of his folk songs, the film by Chaitanya Tamhane explores the Indian legal system.Venue: Arthshila Ahmedabad Panjara PolOrganisers: Arthshila AhmedabadHow to attend: Free entryDate and time: September 17 (Saturday) – September 18 (Sunday), 11:30 amHistoric Narratives of Indian Towns: The Bulandshahr Legacy- an interactionAbout the event: Join Leenika Jacob, the Managing Trustee of The Kala Chaupal Trust & Jigna Desai, professor and program chair for Master’s in Conservation and Regeneration at the Faculty of Architecture, CEPT University, on intercation on the Bulandshahr Legacy Project to research, document and collate the socio-cultural history and heritage of a Tier B town and district in Uttar Pradesh and create a self-sustainable project through community and citizen action.Venue: Arthshila Ahmedabad Panjara PolOrganisers: Arthshila AhmedabadHow to attend: Open to allDate and time: September 20 (Tuesday), 6:30 pmVibing with LojalAbout the event: Lojal aka Martin Haokip a generational talent straight out of Goa, an NH7 weekender performer, Lojal dives into the various realms of performance and music as he continuously pushes the boundaries of what art can be. His critically acclaimed first album “Phase” was deemed the Best Debut Album award 2020, India (AHH)Venue: A secret location on Judges Bunglow Road, Ahmedabd only to be revealed to the ticklet buyers!Organisers: Leave No FingerprintsHow to attend: Book hereDate and time: September 17 (Saturday), 8:00 pm to 10:30 pmJazz and Pop Night with Chirag Todi, Gouri and AkshaAbout the Event: Songer-songwriter duo from Mumbai Gouri and Aksha Singer and songwriter-guitarist Chirag Todi will perform to enthrall audiences with an evening of Jazz and Pop medleys.Venue: Buck Gallery, near Parimal Garden, AhmedabadHow to Attend: Book hereDate and Time: Friday September 23, 9 pm to 10 pmThe Case In Deed- play (English)About the event: A play by Aniket parmar and adapted by Kushali Haji, is an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s story the play follows a murder-mystery contextualized to the city of Ahmedabad. A lawyer and her assistant comes across a terror-stricken man accused of murder.Venue: Footlight Theatre AhmedabadOrganisers: Rangmanch Ki CharpaiHow to attend: Book here, or call- +91- 7412828983 / +91- 6359760919Date and time: September 22 (Thursday)- September 23 (Friday), 8:00 pm
RAJKOT: In Bhavnagar city, they are not just the roads, but government buildings too that are turning into a favourite hangout place for stray cattle. In a video that has gone viral on social media on Friday, a cow is seen sauntering inside Bahumali Bhavan which houses several government offices. The building is visited by hundreds of people every day. The person, who recorded the video also showed the signboards of the government office. Sources confirmed that the incident had happened in the last four or five days. The cow is seen strolling around freely in the long passage of the building and meets another bovine that has squatted outside the office of surveyor. The video has triggered lot of humour on the social media at a time when the civic bodies across the state are working day and night to impound animals from the roads following Gujarat high court’s severe indictment of the state government over failure to rein in the stray cattle menace. When contacted, Bhavnagar district collector Yogesh Nirgude said, “After this video went viral, I directed the concerned persons to appoint a private guard and gave necessary instructions to ensure that such things don’t happen again.”
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of continuing heavy rainfall over Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand on Saturday. On Friday, extremely heavy rainfall (over 204mm in 24-hours) was recorded at many places in Uttar Pradesh. Fatehpur tehsil (290mm), Ramnagar (270mm) and Haidargarh (210mm) — in Barabanki district — remained among the wettest areas of the country on the day. Lucknow (airport) recorded 160mm of rainfall. Presently, Uttar Pradesh and its neighbourhood areas remain under the influence of a well-marked low-pressure area, which has persisted since Thursday. “As the well-marked low-pressure system has recurved towards UP and will persist there, UP will continue to receive rainfall till Saturday. The rainfall intensity, thereafter, will start reducing from Sunday onwards,” said Anupam Kashyapi, head, weather forecasting division, IMD, Pune. The prevailing low-pressure system is possibly only the second synoptic system (low pressure/depression, etc.) since June to cause rainfall over UP. The season, overall, has seen poor rainfall activity over the state, which remains among the driest in the country. It is yet to receive normal seasonal rainfall this year. As on Friday, UP’s rainfall situation stood at -39 per cent, with the state, so far, receiving 427mm of rainfall.Meanwhile, the Southwest monsoon continues to remain active over large parts of central India, including parts of north Konkan and Madhya Maharashtra, UP, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Currently, there is a trough running between west-central Arabian Sea till the system over UP, which is attracting moist westerly winds from the Arabian Sea landwards, prevails. Besides, the monsoon trough runs to the south of its normal position, all of which are facilitating favourable conditions for the monsoon to remain active-to-vigorous over western-central India regions till the weekend. With IMD’s Extended Range Forecast (ERF) indicating a likely development of a fresh low-pressure system in the west-central Bay of Bengal by September 18, there will be more rainfall over the central India region starting September 20. UP is most likely to benefit during the upcoming spell, as well. “Though UP received good rainfall since Thursday and is expected to receive more rain in the coming week, the existing deficit could be reduced. But it will not be sufficient enough to cover the season’s deficit as the normals are now high,” Medha Khole, senior meteorologist from IMD, Pune, said. This season, UP has consistently maintained a deficit ranging between 40 and 46 per cent, severely crippling its paddy cultivation. Newsletter | Click to get the day’s best explainers in your inboxWith just over a fortnight remaining for the monsoon season and yet another low-pressure system likely to develop over the Bay of Bengal, its movement and intensity will decide the commencement of the monsoon’s withdrawal. According to the ERF, there is a chance of the monsoon retreating from the extreme northwestern parts of the country towards the last week of September.
AHMEDABAD: The intensity of rainfall reduced across the state and city on Wednesday. Due to the monsoon trough and the trough from the northeast Arabian Sea, parts of Saurashtra and South Gujarat received moderate to heavy rain. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast, for the next two days Navsari and Valsad will get heavy rain, and other regions may get light to moderate showers. The weather department has issued orange alert for MP, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Konkan, and Goa from September 14-17. TNN
AHMEDABAD: An hour of heavy rain in the West Zone of the city, will cause severe waterlogging at Helmet Circle, Valinath Chowk, AEC Circle, Naranpura Crossroads, RTO and Lakhudi Talav Circle, leading to a traffic nightmare. A new study by researchers from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, found that 55% of the area of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's West Zone - which includes the city's central business district (CBD) Ashram Road, the Gujarat University area, Navrangpura, CG Road, Paldi, SP Stadium and Chandkheda-Motera - is flood prone. The IIRS study also suggests a solution, saying that in densely developed areas such as Navarangpura, if the civic body was to set up integrated Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) it would offer an alternative approach to conventional stormwater management, along with environmental benefits. BGI is a landscape conservation approach, with nested networks of lakes and green spaces, permeable pavements, bioswales, rain gardens, urban tree cover, small ponds and wetlands. IIRS researchers Ravnish Kaur and Kshama Gupta have provided a potential map, marking suitability for a BGI network for the West Zone. The final suitability map for BGI implementation shows that of the 450 sq km of the city, about 145 sq km (32%) has low suitability, 157 sq km (35%) has moderate suitability and 148 sq km (33%) has the highest suitability. The study had considered areas for BGI networks that were larger than two hectares. Saswat Bandyopadhyay, project director, Centre of Urban Planning and Policy (CUPP), at CEPT Research and Development Foundation says, "Ahmedabad needs a sea change in the planning process to implement BGI. While we still hinge on floor space index (FSI) in the planning process, in Europe, the US and Singapore, planning involves the green plot ratio (GPR). "We can make cities climate resilient only if there is strong political will and thorough knowledge of the ground realities of town planning in Gujarat cities." Bandyopadhyay added that the construction industry in Ahmedabad had begun including elements such as vertical gardens and green roofing. He says available stormwater drainage technologies that break the speed of surface runoff should be included in the AMC's civic infrastructure.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued heavy rainfall forecast for 17 districts of the state on Thursday.“Heavy rains very likely in the districts of Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Aravalli, Kheda, Panchmahal, Dahod, Mahisagar, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Navsari, Valsad; in the districts of Saurashtra namely Porbandar, Junagadh, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Gir Somnath and Kutch,” the weather department’s forecast stated.Also, light thunderstorm with lightning and surface wind less than 40 kmph (in gust) accompanied with rainfall is expected.For Friday, September 16, heavy to very heavy rain is expected in the districts of South Gujarat namely Valsad along with heavy rain in Aravalli, Panchmahal, Dahod, Mahisagar, Vadodara, Surat, Dangs, Navsari; in the districts of Saurashtra namely Junagadh and Gir Somnath along with light thunderstorm with lightning and surface wind less than 40 kmph (in gust).On September 17, heavy rain in the districts of South Gujarat region including Navsari and Valsad is expected.
As Gujarat continued to receive heavy rainfall Tuesday, the districts along the Saurashtra coast, and in the southern and northern regions are expected to receive heavy rainfall Wednesday.“Heavy to very heavy rains are very likely in the districts of South Gujarat—Navsari and Valsad—while heavy rains in the districts of Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Aravalli, Dahod, Mahisagar, Surat, Dang and Tapi, along with districts of Saurashtra, namely Amreli, Bhavnagar and Botad,” stated the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast issued for Wednesday.On Tuesday, Saurashtra districts, viz, Gir Somnath, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Junagadh and Jamnagar, along with those in south Gujarat, including Bharuch, Surat and Valsad received heavy rainfall.“A monsoon trough over Bay of Bengal along with the trough from Northwest Arabian Sea to north Bangladesh across Gujarat, the cyclonic circulation associated with the well-marked low pressure area over central parts of Madhya Pradesh, north Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Gangetic West Bengal, and extending above mean sea” are the systems attributed to the active rainfall over Gujarat this week.Also, light thunderstorms with lightning and surface wind less than 40 kmph (in gust) accompanied by light to moderate rain are “very likely” at isolated places in most of the districts of Gujarat, stated the weather department.A very heavy rain alert has been issued for Navsari and Valsad on September 15. On both September 15 and 16, heavy rainfall is expected in the districts of Panchmahal, Dahod, Surat, Dang, Tapi, Amreli and Bhavnagar.
Gujarat is likely to see heavy rainfall until September 16 as southwest monsoon is expected to be active in the coming week due to systems developed in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, stated an advisory from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) Sunday.“The monsoon trough continues to pass through Nalia, Ahmedabad, Brahmapuri, Jagdalpur, the centre of Depression over south coastal Odisha and neighbourhood and thence east, southeastwards to the Eastcentral Bay of Bengal. Also, cyclonic circulation over East Central Arabian Sea off south Maharashtra-Goa coasts is extending above mean sea-level persists,” the IMD stated.Until 6 pm Sunday, 75 talukas recorded rainfall on Sunday. Karjan in Vadodara recorded 41 mm, followed by Umerpada (37 mm) in Surat. Other areas that recorded heavy rainfall include Subir in Dang, Sinor in Vadodara, Palanpur in Banaskantha, Jotana in Mehsana and Dahod.Parts of Ahmedabad city also recorded heavy rainfall between 4 pm and 7 pm with an average rainfall of 23 mm. Water logging due to heavy rainfall in the areas of Paldi in the west zone that recorded 55 mm.On Monday, heavy to very heavy rain is expected in the districts of Saurashtra, namely Rajkot and Morbi, heavy rains at isolated places in the districts of Kheda, Mehsana, Banaskantha, Anand, Narmada, Bharuch Surat, Navsari, Valsad, Tapi and in Jamnagar, Porbandar, Junagadh, Amreli, Dwarka and Gir Somnath.Also, light thunderstorms with lightning and surface wind less than 40 kmph (in gust) accompanied by light to moderate rain is very likely across the state Monday and Tuesday.The IMD has cautioned against heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places in the districts of South Gujarat, namely Narmada and Surat for Tuesday.Further, “heavy rain at isolated places is very likely in the districts of South Gujarat region namely Vadodara, Bharuch Navsari, Valsad and Tapi; in the districts of Saurashtra namely Porbandar, Junagadh, Amreli and Bhavnagar,” Tuesday.On September 14, heavy to very heavy rain is expected in Vadodara and Chhota Udepur along with heavy rain Kheda, Ahmedabad, Anand, Panchmahal, Dahod and Mahisagar and in Saurashtra districts of Surendranagar, Rajkot, Amreli, Bhavnagar and Botad.
