Large parts of Kerala are expected to receive light to moderate rainfall till September 24 under the influence of a monsoon weather system rapidly gathering strength in the Bay of Bengal.
The India Met Department has issued a cyclone alert for south Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh coasts after a depression that formed in east central Bay of Bengal on Wednesday night intensified into a deep depression by Thursday morning and lay centred off the coast between Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Gopalpur in Odisha.
The IMD has warned that the system is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm over the next 12 hours and make landfall between Kalingapatnam and Puri around Thursday midnight with a wind speed of 60-70 kmph gusting up to 80 kmph. The weather agency has issued a red alert for Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha on Friday and Telangana on Saturday.
Though Kerala is not in the path of the storm, the Met Centre here has forecast light to moderate rainfall under its influence in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Idukki till Monday, with the other districts likely to receive rainfall for a day or two.
“No part of the State is expected to get more than 6 cm of rainfall during this period,” said K.Santhosh, Director, Thiruvananthapuram Met Centre.
Overcast skies
The skies over south Kerala remained heavily overcast from Thursday evening and several areas received showers.