On the eve of the redemption of India Millennium Deposits of $7.3 billion t the non-resident Indians, Finance Minister P Chidambaram
As the heavy rains continued on Wednesday also, Orange alert was sounded in 12 of the 14 districts of the state for the day.
Rijiju, who was removed as law minister on Thursday, refused to answer questions about his previous ministry contending that they were no longer relevant and that he looked forward to serve in the Earth Sciences Ministry.
The system, which moved towards Bangladesh from north Bay of Bengal at a speed of 56 kmph caused moderate to heavy rain and squally weather in West Bengal's coastal districts of South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur, dampening festive spirits on Deepavali and Kali Puja.
The cyclone is expected to make landfall on Thursday evening as a 'very severe cyclonic storm' with maximum wind speed reaching up to 150 kilometres per hour, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The event, for which people had started gathering since morning, began around 11.30 am and went on till around 1 pm. That day, the nearest weather station to the spot of the programme recorded a maximum temperature of 38 degrees Celsius.
The country also reported 1,750 deaths due to extreme weather events such as floods, cyclonic storms, heavy rain, landslides, lightning, among others, during the year, it said.
Wind speed at the time is expected to be in the range of 125-135 kmph gusting up to 150 kmph.
The government declared Monday (Dec 4) a public holiday and urged private companies to encourage 'work from home' option for its employees in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu districts.
The weather system moved west-northwestward and concentrated into a depression on Saturday at 8.30am, close to west of Andaman Islands, the bulletin said.
Officials in coastal Devbhumi Dwarka said around 1,300 people have been shifted to safer places so far.
The India Meteorological Department's (IMD) regional centre for Mumbai has issued a 'yellow alert' for next three days, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places.
Several major cyclones have hit various parts of India over the last 10 years. Here is a look at the notable among them.
The IMD on its part is sticking to its forecast of July rainfall.
Cyclone Biparjoy made landfall near Jakhau Port in Gujarat on Thursday evening with a wind speed of 115-125 kmph gusting to 140 kmph as heavy rains lashed the coastal region, where several areas plunged into darkness due to power cuts and a large number of trees, electric poles and hoardings got uprooted.
The weather office cautioned the fishermen not to venture into sea in the Odisha Coast.
Such weather conditions are not typical for May which tends to be the hottest month of the year in Delhi with a mean maximum temperature of 39.5 degrees Celsius.
The IMD has issued Yellow alert for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts for today whereas Wayanad too has Yellow alert on May 22.
The India Meteorological Department said the southwest monsoon further advanced into Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmiri, some parts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan on June 30.
The capital witnessed a clear morning on Friday with the minimum temperature settling a notch below normal at 14.6 degrees Celsius.
The trough over the Bay of Bengal, which has caused the torrential downpour in the state, will weaken in next 48 hours.
The southwest monsoon has started on a weak note and this has delayed the sowing of kharif crops. Though a cause for concern, the situation hasn't reached a stage where it warrants any panic response. Moreover, according to meteorologists and industry players, monsoon rains will witness a revival in the coming few weeks.
Any long dry spell could cause moisture stress in the standing crop during the crucial maturing stage and also make it prone to pest and disease attacks.
Cyclone Biparjoy has left a trail of destruction in Gujarat's Kutch and Saurashtra regions as some 1,000 villages are still without power with hundreds of electric poles getting damaged, while several coastal villages were flooded due to heavy rains and incoming seawater, officials said on Friday, a day after the storm made landfall.
Less-than-expected rainfall and a poor spatial distribution, experts say, can rekindle fears of a rise in food and fuel inflation that can have an impact on the RBI's monetary policy. The fear of less than optimal rainfall due to El Nino this year, analysts believe, is the biggest short-term risk for the markets, which they said has not been fully priced in yet by them. Monsoon set over Kerala on June 08, a week later than its scheduled date.
An improvement in the wind speed November 21 onwards might bring air pollution levels down.
Cyclone Vayu was to hit the Gujarat coast on Thursday, but it changed course on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
As the weather improved in parts of north India, which was pummelled by heavy rains for days, authorities on Wednesday worked on a war footing to rescue stranded tourists, restore vehicular traffic on arterial roads and prevent floodwaters from entering new areas.
Severe cyclonic storm Mandous will cross the coast between north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh around December 9 night and early next day, the regional weather office said on Friday.
Heavy rains over a span of few hours flooded many parts of Nagpur city, following which more than 400 people, including 70 students from a school for the speech and hearing-impaired, were rescued, said Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday.
The cyclone will make a landfall at around 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm on Thursday
A severe cold wave brought the minimum temperature down to a numbing 1.5 degrees Celsius at the Ridge weather station in central Delhi.
Just two days after recording 811.6 mm of rainfall in a day, Cherrapunji in Meghalaya received a bountiful 972 mm of precipitation in 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Friday, the highest in June since 1995 and the third highest in 122 years, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
'AI can be very useful for making analysis and especially making city-based local forecasts.'
The India Meteorological Department has issued a 'Red Alert' and predicted 'very heavy' to 'extremely heavy' rainfall across several districts of Assam over the next five days.
Waterlogging was reported in Andheri, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Chembur and some other places.
Hundreds of people are being evacuated from coastal villages in Kutch district in view of cyclone Biparjoy, but authorities are facing a challenge as many villagers are reluctant to leave their livestock and belongings behind.
"Seventeen states, including the national capital, are rain deficient, while two states fall in the scanty rainfall category. The rest have witnessed good rainfall," IMD Director Dr S K Subramaniam said.
The poisonous haze has been causing significant problems for people with existing respiratory issues, according to doctors.
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