india

Updated: Jul 09, 2019 07:30 IST

Widespread monsoon rains in most parts of India over the course of this week will be followed by “break monsoon” conditions when the rains shift to the Himalayan foothills, private met forecaster, Skymet Weather said on Monday

During break monsoon, which is likely to set in from July 15, there will be less rain in the plains and extensive rainfall in the foothills from Uttarakhand in the north to several parts of northeast India. Heavy rains are likely in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and the north-eastern states during the break monsoon period.

“The low pressure area over Uttar Pradesh and adjoining Madhya Pradesh will be fading away soon, resulting in drastic decrease in the rains over the central parts of the country. Moreover, the trough currently passing through the Indo-Gangetic plains will also shift north towards the foothills of Himalayas, leading to increased rain activities along these parts,” Skymet Weather said.

“Usually the excess of the monsoon trough shifts to foothills of Himalaya, but this year, since the monsoon hasn’t covered the entire country yet we cannot call it excess. But the monsoon trough is shifting to the foothills which will lead to dry conditions in central India,” explained Mahesh Palawat, vice president, climate change and meteorology, Skymet Weather.

In its Monday bulletin, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said a seasonal trough (area of low pressure) across the northern plains is very likely to remain active during the coming three days, with a gradual northward shift from Monday evening. “Monsoon will come back to plains after July 12. We haven’t changed our forecast for July. It’s still 95% of the Long Period Average (LPA),” said M Mohapatra, IMD director general.