Uttarakhand issues alert, heavy rain likely in next 48 hours

New Delhi: A heavy rainfall alert has been issued across several parts of Uttarakhand on Friday. Heavy showers are expected in Dehradun, Haridwar, Pauri, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar and Champawat districts in the next 48 hours.

The India Meteorological Department predicted heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places is very likely over Uttarakhand, Bihar and Sub­Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim. Heavy rain at isolated places is also expected over Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, East Rajasthan, West Madhya Pradesh, Gangetic West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

According to an IMD release, the eastern branch of monsoon trough at mean sea level shifts northwards and passes through Firozpur, Kaithal, Meerut, Hardoi, Patna, Goalpara and thence eastwards to east Assam. The cyclonic circulation over northern parts of central Madhya Pradesh and neighbourhood persists and now extends upto 5.8 km above mean sea level, 

Under the influence of the above synoptic situations, fairly widespread to widespread with isolated heavy rainfall activity is very likely over northern India and northeast India during the next 2­3 days.

Rainfall is also expected to increase over parts of east India from 25th August onwards due to likely formation of a low-pressure area over north Bay of Bengal around August 26, 2018. Subdued rainfall activity is likely over the west and peninsular India during the next three to four days.