IMD issues orange alert, predicts heavy rainfall in most parts of North India

The India Meteorological Department (IMD), the central weather forecasting agency, has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall for the next five days in most parts of North India. It has also issued an orange alert for the next three days. "Due to Western disturbances a three-day orange alert for rainfall has been issued for almost the entirety of North India. Rainfall in Delhi too will continue for the next three days," IMD's senior scientist Naresh Kumar told the news agency ANI.

The scientist said the thunderstorm activity usually happens in March-April but has got extended this year. The weather department has issued a heavy rainfall alert for Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir. "Similarly, on the eastern side too, heavy rainfall is expected in Bihar, Jharkhand to the south Karnataka interior region," he said.

According to him, the temperature throughout the country will stay below due to thunderstorms. In the Delhi-NCR region, Haryana, and Punjab, the temperature is expected to remain 9-10 degrees below. It can rise by 3-5 degrees once cloud start appearing after 3-4 days.

In Punjab, ten districts are likely to witness heavy rainfall on Tuesday (May 2). These districts are Ludhiana, Barnala, Moga, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, and Pathankot. In Haryana, the districts of Karnal, Kaithal, Jind, Panipat, Sonipat, Rohtak, and Jhajjar are expected to be hit by heavy rainfall.

In Himachal, heavy rainfall is expected in Chamba, Kangra, Kullu, Mandi, Hamirpur, Una, Solan, Sirmaur, and Shimla on May 2. The weather department has issued a yellow alert for these districts for Wednesday.

In its daily weather forecast, the IMD on Monday said heavy rainfall is very likely at isolated places over Jammu division, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand on May 1 and 2; Haryana, West Uttar Pradesh on May 1 and over Punjab on May 2.

For central India, the department predicted fairly widespread rainfall with thunderstorms during the next three days till May 3. Hailstorm is very likely at isolated places over West Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, and Chhattisgarh on May q and over East Madhya Pradesh on May 1 and 2, the department said.

For the southern part, the weather office predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over coastal Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu on Monday (May 1) and isolated heavy rainfall over south interior Karnataka, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rayalaseema, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu till May 3.

The IMD has also issued a warning of thunderstorms and light to moderate spells of rain with gutsy rains in various districts - Nanded, Parbhani, Latur, Osmanabad, Dhule, and Nandurbar - of Maharashtra.

Regional Weather Forecasting Centre (RWFC) in Delhi has predicted thunderstorms with light to moderate intensity rain over and across the adjoining areas of NCR.