The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday forecast that a low pressure area has developed in the southeast Bay of Bengal and the same could intensify into a cyclonic storm by the evening of May 16. The low pressure area, to be named 'Amphan' if it develops into a cyclonic storm, is likely to move northwestwards initially till May 17 before recurving north-northeastwards.
According to the IMD, there were 354 heavy rainfall events — defined by IMD as absolute rainfall above 64.5 millimetres (mm) — across India in March and April. Of these events, 224 occurred in April, while 130 occurred in March. Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh were impacted the most (52 occurrences), followed by West Bengal (41) and Odisha (40), while Meghalaya recorded 29 such events in two months. The heavy rain and storms led to cooler-than-normal temperatures across north, central and east India.
The IMD recorded some unusual climatic changes to forecast for the upcoming summer. “With no major heat waves recorded in the core zones so far and excess rainfall across the country, this summer is turning out to be unusual,” it said. In its weather forecast on Wednesday, the IMD said that a low pressure area has formed over southeast Bay of Bengal and adjoining south Andaman Sea, in the Wednesday morning.