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IMD warns of heavy rain in Bihar, UP, Bengal and hail-thunderstorms in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab as Arnab fades
Cyclone Arnab's remnants and a western disturbance keep the weather unsettled. The IMD warns of heavy to very heavy rain in Bihar, east UP and West Bengal on Friday and thunderstorms with hail and gusts to 70 km/h in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab. A new low-pressure area is forming over the Andaman Sea.
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Heavy to very heavy rain is very likely in parts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal on Friday, 30 October, and the India Meteorological Department has warned of thunderstorms and hail in Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh and Punjab. The weather is being driven by the remnants of Cyclone Arnab, a western disturbance and a new weather system forming over the Andaman Sea. Cyclone Arnab weakened into a deep depression at 11:30 pm on 28 October, and the weather office expected it to fade into a low-pressure area by the evening of 29 October.
The east and the centre
The weather office has issued orange alerts for heavy to very heavy rain in parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and east Madhya Pradesh, with 115.6 to 204.4 mm possible in some areas. Yellow alerts for heavy rain of 64.5 to 115.5 mm cover coastal Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Sikkim and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. East Uttar Pradesh was forecast to get heavy to very heavy rain on 29 October and heavy rain in some places on 30 October.
| Region | Forecast for Friday, 30 October |
|---|---|
| Bihar | Heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places, with thunderstorms and lightning |
| East Uttar Pradesh | Heavy rain in many districts, including Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Prayagraj; gusty winds in some parts |
| West Bengal and Sikkim | Heavy rain at isolated places over sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, with gusty winds |
| Odisha | Rain in several parts; heavy showers possible at isolated places in the coming days |
| Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam | Heavy rain warning, with thunderstorms and lightning |
| Northeast | Thunderstorms with lightning in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, with gusts of 40 to 50 km/h in places |
The north
Delhi, Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab face thunderstorms and strong winds on 29 and 30 October, with speeds of 50 to 60 km/h and gusts of up to 70 km/h. Hailstorms are possible at isolated places, including in the Delhi-NCR towns of Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Gurugram, and in eastern Rajasthan. Punjab is expected to see its first thunderstorm activity after several dry days.
A western disturbance may bring light to moderate rain to Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on 29 and 30 October, with snow at higher elevations. Himachal Pradesh may get rain from 29 October to 2 November and Uttarakhand until 2 November, with snow on the higher reaches of both. Fresh snow was reported at Kedarnath on Thursday.
The weather office said a new system is developing over the southern Andaman Sea, with an upper-air cyclonic circulation reaching about 5.8 km above sea level, and expects a fresh low-pressure area to form within 24 hours. That could bring more rain to parts of eastern and south-eastern India. Winds of 40 to 50 km/h, gusting to 60 km/h, are forecast over the north-western Bay of Bengal and the waters off the West Bengal coast, and fishermen have been advised to follow official marine warnings.
Cyclone Arnab crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast on 28 October, killed at least three people in the state, and flooded about 300 villages in Ganjam district of Odisha, where the state is arranging airlifts. Headlines on the storm's aftermath mention that more than 58,000 people were evacuated in Andhra Pradesh after landfall and that over 100,000 were evacuated in southern Odisha, though the counts in different reports use different definitions.
The colours of the weather office's alerts have set meanings. Yellow means be aware, orange means be prepared, and red means take action. Heavy rain is a fall of 64.5 to 115.5 mm in 24 hours, very heavy rain is 115.6 to 204.4 mm, and extremely heavy rain is more than 204.4 mm. Orange alerts for the eastern states therefore mean that very heavy falls are possible in places, which is when rivers rise and low-lying areas flood.
The weather office advises residents to avoid open fields, isolated trees and electricity poles during thunderstorms. Farmers are urged to protect harvested crops and produce kept in the open from rain, wind and hail. Travellers in the affected states should check train and flight status and avoid waterlogged roads. The weather office's own bulletins, which are updated through the day, are the authority on the warnings in each district.
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