IMD issued ‘Orange’ alert for Chandrapur, Gadchiroli and Yavatmal districts on October 29 n ‘Yellow’ alert for other districts of Vidarbha from October 28 to 30  

 

The impact of Cyclone ‘Montha’ is looming over Vidarbha as the region will get moderate to heavy rains in the next 2-3 days, stated India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday. The Weather Department issued ‘Orange’ alert for October 29 as Chandrapur, Gadchiroli and Yavatmal districts of Vidarbha will receive heavy to very heavy rainfall accompanied with thunderstorm, lightning and gusty winds (speed reaching 40-50 kmph). Similarly, the Department issued ‘Yellow’ alert for October 28, 29 and 30 as Chandrapur, Nagpur, Gadchiroli, Wardha, Yavatmal, Bhandara, and Gondia will receive heavy rainfall with thunderstorm, lightning and gusty winds (speed reaching 30-40 kmph). Nagpur district is likely to get heavy rainfall on October 29 and 30 and thunderstorm may take place on October 28, stated a press release issued by the Weather Department. On October 27, 13.5 mm rainfall occurred in Buldhana districts which was highest in Vidarbha.

 

Maximum temperature was in the range of 29 degrees Celsius to 35 degrees Celsius that remained below normal in the range on Monday. Minimum temperature was in the range of 20 degrees Celsius to 23 degrees Celsius that remained in normal category in Vidarbha. Relative humidity (maximum) were in the range of 84–93 percent over the region. Brahmapuri reported highest maximum temperature (34.6° C) while lowest minimum temperature was reported in Bhandara (20° C) on Monday.

 

The Weather Department predicted rainy winter this year as La Nina will effect the weather in India. Cyclonic Montha over southwest and adjoining areas of west central and southeast Bay of Bengal (BoB) moved north-northwestwards with a speed of 18 kmph during past 6 hours and lay centred at 8.30 am on Monday, over southwest and adjoining west central BoB, about 520 km east-southeast of Chennai of Tamil Nadu, 570 km south-southeast of Kakinada of Andhra Pradesh, 600 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam of Andhra Pradesh, 750 km south of Gopalpur of Odisha and 850 km west of Port Blair of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

 

According to IMD, the cyclone is likely to move north-northwestwards and intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by morning of October 28. Continuing to move further north-northwestwards, it is very likely to cross Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam around Kakinada during evening or night of October 28 as a severe cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 90-100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph. The trough from the upper air cyclonic circulation associated with Depression over east central Arabian sea to west Madhya Pradesh across northeast Arabian sea and south Gujarat region between 1.5 and 3.1 km above mean sea level persists. Due to these weather developments, Central India including Vidarbha will get rains for the next 2-3 days, stated the Weather Department.