Heavy rainfall lashed several districts of Karnataka, including Bengaluru and Tamil Nadu, on Sunday morning amid a yellow warning from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The current wet weather in the coastal states is due to a well-marked low pressure area over the southwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal.
Bengaluru is currently experiencing moderate to heavy pre-monsoon showers. Today, the city is likely to see partly to cloudy skies with occasional rain and thunderstorms. Most weather activity is expected in the late afternoon and evening hours.
The meteorological agency has issued a yellow alert for Bengaluru for the next three days, saying that the sky in the Silicon City will remain cloudy with a high chance of rain.
Districts including Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Shivamogga, Mysuru and Chamarajanagar have been put on high alert due to heavy rain and thunderstorms accompanied by gusty winds of 40-50 kmph.
The IMD has issued a yellow alert for Karnataka districts like Raichur, Yadgir, Koppal and Bagalkot. Thunderstorms with winds of 40-50 km/h are expected to continue today before fading tomorrow.
In coastal Karnataka, the weather agency said light to moderate rains and thundershowers are expected to continue in districts like Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada for the next few days.
It is raining in Tamil Nadu
Heavy rains have lashed several districts of Tamil Nadu, including Tiruchirappalli city, since Saturday. According to the Chennai Regional Meteorological Department, at least five districts in the state are bracing for heavy downpour on Sunday.
Heavy rains are likely to occur in 5 districts of Tamil Nadu today, according to a statement issued by the Chennai Meteorological Department. Chennai and a few other parts of the state are expected to see generally cloudy skies with a strong possibility of light rain or thundershowers.
Heavy rains are likely to continue for the next 3 days as a low pressure area lies over southwest Bay of Bengal, the Met department said.
Heavy rain is expected in Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Coimbatore and Nilgiri districts today and tomorrow.
Karur, Tiruchirapalli and Sivaganga districts are also likely to receive heavy rain tomorrow, May 18, accompanied by strong winds of up to 40 kmph with gusts of up to 40 kmph.
Early onset of monsoon
On Saturday, the IMD said the southwest monsoon has advanced over parts of the southeast Arabian Sea, southwest and southeast Bay of Bengal, Andaman Sea, the entire Nicobar Islands and parts of the Andaman Islands, including Sri Vijaya Puram.
It said conditions are favorable for the monsoon to advance further into some other parts of the Southeast Arabian Sea, Southwest and Southeast Bay of Bengal during the next three to four days.
The department said on Friday that the southwest monsoon is expected to set soon over Kerala on May 26. Kerala usually sees the onset of monsoon on June 1, which marks the beginning of the southwest monsoon season (June to September).
Earlier, the IMD had said that India may experience sub-normal rainfall during the monsoon season this year. This could be due to the occurrence of El Niño conditions during the season which causes less rainfall in the country.
