Maharashtra braces for more rains, very intense shower spells in Raigad, Ratnagiri districts today evening

Mumbai: Intense to very intense spells of rain have been predicted at places in the Raigad and Ratnagiri districts of Maharashtra during the next 3-4 hours, the Mumbai IMD has said on Sunday evening.

It is worth mentioning that despite a dull start, Maharashtra has received 27 per cent more rains than normal in June and July.

According to the data by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the coastal state has received 677.5 mm rainfall till 31 July, which is 27 per cent more than its normal figures.

The southwest monsoon usually arrives in Maharashtra around 7 June, but it got delayed this year and hit the state on 11 July.

Almost all districts in Maharashtra have been reporting either normal or excess rainfall over the last few days. Of the five districts reporting excess rainfall this monsoon, four are from drought-prone Marathwada. Nanded, Latur, Osmanabad and Beed have reported excess rainfall from Marathwada and Nashik from central Maharashtra has reported 68 per cent excess rainfall.

The weather department has predicted that with an active monsoon over the state till 11 August.

IMD issues rain alert for Maharashtra

As per IMD official Sushma Nair, yellow alert has been issued for Mumbai for the next four days owing to favourable weather systems which could result in heavy rainfall.

Orange alert (heavy to very heavy rainfall) has been announced for some districts in Maharashtra – Raigad, Ratnagiri, Pune, Kolhapur, Satara and Chandrapur – until Wednesday.

Sangli, Solapur, Bhed, Latur, Osmanabad, Aurangabad and Jalna will receive only light rainfall during this time.

According to IMD, a low-pressure area will form in the Bay of Bengal by Sunday and gradually deepen into a depression by early next week and move across Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat in the next week.

These states are expected to experience widespread heavy to very heavy rains during 7 to 11 August. Maharashtra is expected to receive 240 mm rain till 13 August.

Meanwhile, IMD today said that climate change has hampered the ability of forecasting agencies to accurately predict severe events and the department is installing more radars and upgrading its high-performance computing system to meet the challenge

IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said that though the monsoon rainfall has not shown any significant trend in the country, the number of heavy rainfall events has increased and that of light rainfall events has decreased due to climate change.

"The impact-based forecast will improve to become "more granular, specific and accurate" by 2025 and IMD will be able to provide forecasts up to panchayat level clusters and specific areas in cities in the coming years," the IMD chief added.

With inputs from agencies

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