Rains ease in western India as Kyarr heads to the Arabian Peninsula.

As much of central and northern India see the return of dry weather with the withdrawal of the Southwest Monsoon, the North East Monsoon (NEM) season has set in, with persistent rain across much of the south, enhanced as a low-pressure system formed in the Arabian Sea.

This low-pressure system formed into Tropical Cyclone Kyarr on Friday morning, quickly intensifying and sitting just off the southwest coast of India.

As of 3:00 GMT on Saturday, The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported sustained winds of 130 kilometres per hour (81 miles per hour), with gusts up to 160km/h (99mph).

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued heavy rain warnings for coastal districts of Karnataka, Goa and south Konkan and isolated heavy rainfall over north Konkan throughout Saturday.

Wind warnings were also issued, as Kyarr is expected to bring gale-force winds to coastal areas, with speeds reaching 70-80km/h (43-50mph), gusting to 90km/h (55mph).

Kyarr is moving slowly west-northwest away from the coast of India as it continues to strengthen.

The JTWC forecasts the tropical cyclone will continue to strengthen throughout Sunday and Monday, before gradually weakening as it approaches the Oman coastline towards the middle of the coming week.

In the meantime, the IMD outlook for the NEM is one of continuing, widespread rainfall across the south peninsula throughout the rest of October.