Yesterday's deep depression to north-west of Kolkata has moved west-northwest through the night, and lay this morning over Bankura in the plains of Bengal, an India Met Department (IMD) update said.
The fact that it did not weaken a bit through this period spoke volumes about its staying power and structural stability, but these features may start to give way sooner than later, the IMD said.
Thunderstorms roam
It could weaken to a depression, but still it would be able to generate high winds and animated seas so long as it stays as one. Heavy rain lashed the plains of Bengal until this morning.
Thunderstorms roamed across Vidarbha, Madhya Pradesh, Marathwada, Madhya Maharashtra, Telangana, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya and Tamil Nadu.
The corridor that the thunderstorms reared represented an elongated area of low pressure that the deep depression had thrown down diagonally across Peninsular India.
Cyclonic circulations punctuated this corridor as they hung over North-West Madhya Pradesh and Madhya Maharashtra, which helped amplify the local weather to varying violent conditions.
Meanwhile, another circulation lurked over the Gulf of Thailand, upstream of East Bay of Bengal, which is attracting the focus of weather watchers now.
Fresh storm in Bay?
And, not without reason either. This is circulation expected to be the flag-bearer of a strong weather system which forecast models believe may likely brew in the East Bay of Bengal next week.
The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts seemed to support an IMD watch for a weather system that could reach up to tropical cyclone strength there in a week's time.
It is to be seen if the prevailing circulation over Gulf of Thailand would wait until then to host the likely storm, or give way to successor circulations to do the honours.
In fact, the West Pacific and the South China Sea are seen entering into a an active phase giving birth to low-pressure areas and depressions, if not full-fledged typhoons.
Remnants of westward-progressing systems could find their way across Indochina into the Bay, just as a tropical depression has hit Vietnam and has pushed in the current circulation over Gulf of Thailand.
Heavy rain, high winds
Meanwhile, the IMD has forecast heavy rain at isolated places today in the plains and hills of Bengal, Sikkim, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Maharashtra, Konkan, Goa, Telangana, Rayalaseema, and North Interior Karnataka.
Squally winds reaching a speed of up to 50 km/hr and gusting to 60 km/hr will prevail over Bengal and winds of up to 40 km/hr in speed and gusting to 50 km/hr over Jharkhand until midnight tonight.
Thunderstorms accompanied with lightning are forecast for Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rayalaseema, Coastal Karnataka, Interior Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
The heavy rain belt is forecast to push towards the North-Eastern States and Konkan & Goa (including Mumbai) on the West Coast during the next few days.
This is the phase when fresh activity is likely to break out over the Bay of Bengal, leading to development of stormy weather sometime next week.