Weather and micro-climate blogs (Copyright WeatherCast)

  The low pressure system intensified into a depression on March 3, 2022 in the early morning hours. At WeatherCast, outlook remains the same wherein as of today the impact would be felt over SriLanka and TamilNadu coasts in the coming days. The rains are imminent for SriLanka and TamilNadu coasts, the precise timing is hard to pin point. But the likely window of heavy rains looks to be from evening of March 4 to morning of March 6.  Considering the prevailing dynamics, we at WeatherCast feel that the system doesn't have enough fuel to transform into a Cyclonic Storm. That said, if the system spends more time over ocean (due to ridge action), then it could become a borderline cyclone (primary due to the fact that the system gets more time to get  organised with a well-formed outer structure). Outlook for March 3 to 6, 2022   Red box  near SriLanka and adjoining south peninsular India indicate possibility of very heavy rains with total average fall 150-250 mm spr...

  HOW CYCLONE GULAB C OULD IMPACT MAHARASHTRA? Cyclone Gulab would make landfall near South Odisha and North Andhra Pradesh, possibly very close to Sompeta in Srikakulam district on September 26 late evening. Once the cyclone makes landfall, the dissipation process would begin due to land friction. However, it is likely that the dissipation mechanism may not be rapid and would be gradual. Therefore, the storm is likely to maintain some strength as it moves inland. The westerlies moisture drag from Arabian Sea would also help system maintain its intensity as a DD (Deep Depression) up until Chattisgarh/Telangana. As the system enters Maharashtra, it may weaken to a Depression (D) and would likely maintain that status as it traverses through the state. This post is about the likely impact of GULAB on Maharashtra. Even though no direct impact is expected, the remnants of Gulab or so called weakened Gulab would very likely impact the state. Briefly, I summarise the possible impact below...

Face masks, shields, sanitisers, and social distancing were the norm in 2020. Another new normal this year, which left an indelible mark, was a series of unexpected weather events that kept the weather-watchers on their toes.    Super-cyclone (Amphan) in the Bay of Bengal, rare cyclone (Nisarga) hitting Maharashtra coast at the start of the monsoon season, back to back cyclones (Nivar and Burevi) in Tamil Nadu during the Northeast monsoon season, super typhoon (Rolly) ripping through Philippines, record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season (30 hurricanes), strongest cyclone (Gati) hitting Somalia - are glimpses of ferocious weather that brand pandemic-hit 2020 as a year to be forgotten.    Cyclone Nisarga making landfall over Maharashtra coast The sole silver-lining for India this year was the bumper monsoon season, which was crucial to allay distress caused by the pandemic. For an agrarian country like India, the benevolent performance of the Indian summer monsoon is ...

****** Abstract: Nation-wide lockdown has lead to reduced emissions and has definitely improved the air quality. However, there is no consensus on how the local temperature and cloud patterns are affected. Using some basic open source data and weather dynamics concept, I am going to show that the lockdown will have inverse effect on temperature, wherein we could expect warmer temperatures and increasing heat-wave like situations in April and May 2020.  Moreover, due to increased heating, it is possible that thunderstorm activity will increase and some intense thunderstorms could be in the offing in May 2020. ****** E ver since the national lockdown, the quality of air that we breathe has improved substantially. There is absolutely no opposition to the fact that the AQI index has drastically come down in all the Indian cities.  So much so that people have been enjoying the beautiful view of snow clad Himalayan mountain ranges from miles way. On the coastal side, ther...

A s I write this blog, India is battling a deadly outbreak, COVID-19, that has caused a lot of distress to many echelons of our society. As we approach closer to the end of the "National Lockdown", one could only hope and pray that we have caught the beginning of a plateauing curve for this life-threatening virus.  For an agrarian country like India, usually at this time of the year the performance of the " Indian summer monsoon " attracts all the curiosity, owing to its notorious nature. But this year, we already have started with so much negative impact that the pressure on "Monsoon 2020 performance" is more than ever. Among all this, we could only hope that a good monsoon washes down all the negativity and brings our economy on track. With this preface, let us move on the ( unofficial ) Monsoon 2020 forecast. Monsoon 2020 has a lot of hope riding on it. It is following a bumper bumper (yes I am indeed it twice) Monsoon 2019, which was 110% o...

The infamous Indian monsoon is a bitter-sweet intra-seasonal system known to bring its share of joy and sorrow. Probably one of the very few weather systems world-wide that has such a characteristic. People eagerly look forward to the monsoon showers (that gives respite from the scorching heat) and at the same time dread the fury that it brings along. Monsoon, in short, is an atmosphere-ocean (or air-sea) coupled system that brings widespread rains primarily to the tropical belt. From India's viewpoint, it is indispensable for agriculture and is dubbed as the real " finance minister " of the country. Well, from the basic definition of monsoon, it looks like if we capture the air-sea interactions, then one could have the monsoon dynamics fully figured out. Yes, true, but it comes with a caveat, and not just one...many! Atmosphere and ocean are dynamically controlled by various parameters namely, wind (zonal, meridional, and vertical components), air temperature, pres...