South Westerly monsoons in full swing over Mumbai

New Delhi, June 27 (UNI) With the south westerly monsoons in full swing over Mumbai, the metropolis is slated to face intermittent rains which will help keep the mercury under check.

Heavy spells of rain or thundershowers are likely to hit parts of the city and suburbs in the next 24 hours accompanied by occasional strong gusty winds, the Met department said.

The total rainfall recorded for the last 24 hours in the city was 10 mm at Colaba in south Mumbai and 11 mm at Santacruz in north Mumbai.

Meanwhile, the low pressure system formed over the Bay of Bengal off the Orissa coast today intensified into a well-marked low pressure over North West Bay of Bengal and its neighbourhood.

The Cyclone Warning Centre said the system was likely to intensify further into a depression by tomorrow.

Under its influence, rain or thundershowers were likely at many places over coastal Andhra Pradesh with heavy to very heavy rainfall at one or two places over North Coastal Andhra Pradesh during the next 48 hours. Advisories have been issued to fishermen not to venture out into the sea.

Rains occurred over most places in Kerala and at isolated places in Lakshadweep. While Vadakara and Koilandi received the highest amount of rainfall of four cm each, Konni, Kozhikode, Karipur Air Port and Koilandi received three cm of rains.

Many areas in Himachal Pradesh, including Bhuntar, Sundernagar, Una, Shimla, and Nagrota Surian were lashed by rains last night.

Guler recorded 46.5 mm of rain and Gamroor 43.2 mm.

Temperatures however rose in the state with Shimla recording 23.4 degrees, one degree below normal. Bhuntar in Kullu district recorded 33.0.

The Met office has predicted light to moderate rains or thundershowers at a few places in Himachal Pradesh during the next 24 hours.

In Northwest India, humid weather conditions prevailed as the barometer recorded an upward movement even as several areas in the region experienced some rainfall during the past 24 hours.

The capital recorded a rise in minimum temperature of 28.4 degrees Celsius with humidity at 81 per cent. The Met department has forecast an increase in rainfall activity over the capital and other plains of Northwest India in the next three days under the influence of a low pressure system over Northwest Bay of Bengal.

Jaipur in Rajasthan recorded a high of 39 degrees while Kathunber in Alwar and Kama in Bharatpur reported 40 mm of rain. Bari in Dholpur and Gadrarod in Barmer reported 30 mm of rain this morning and Khumer, Kishangarh and Mt Abu reported 20 mm of rain in the last 24 hours.

The maximum temperatures recorded in Ajmer was 36, , Pilani 38, Kota 38, Dabok in Udaipur 34, Barmer 34, Jaisalmer 36, Jodhpur and Bikaneer 37, Churu 40.

However, the mercury hovered below normal by one degree to five degrees in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

In Punjab, where rains lashed certain areas overnight, the maximum temperature soared at Amritsar recording 37, two degrees below normal, while Patiala showed 36.7, one degree down.

Ludhiana recorded 34.5, five degrees below normal.

The mercury also rose in Haryana but stayed two degrees to five degrees below normal. Hissar, which was lashed by rains overnight, recorded 35.4 degrees, five degrees below normal, while the mercury settled at 35.8 degrees each at Ambala and Karnal.

The minimum temperature in Kolkata was recorded at 27 degrees while the maximum was 34.4.

Manipur continued to be submerged in water even though no rainfall was recorded for the past 48 hours. The minimum temperature was about 22.4 degrees while the maximum was 32.3. Agricultural lands were submerged at Thoubal, Imphal, Bishenpur and Senapati districts.

Rain or thundershowers are likely to occur at many places in gangetic West Bengal, east Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Rayalseema, interior Karnataka, Lakshwadeep and at a few places in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, west Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and at isolated places in Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan.

UNI