Anjali Marar

Since Sunday, districts across Maharashtra, including Mumbai, Pune, Raigad, Palghar, Thane, and Nashik, have witnessed intense rainfall, with several locations reporting record-breaking rainfall.(Express File Photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee) Exceptionally heavy rain battered the Western Ghats of Maharashtra for the second consecutive day this month, with several ghat regions recording over 500 mm of rainfall in 24 hours Tuesday.

The normal date for monsoon to cover the entire country is July 8; this year, it may be close to the normal date or slightly delayed. (File Photo) With the formation of season’s first depression over the Bay of Bengal, eight states across India’s central and west coast are expected to receive extremely heavy to heavy rainfall over the next two days. For Monday, IMD has issued a ‘red alert’ for Chhattisgarh, Konkan and Madhya Maharashtra, and eastern Gujarat.

” El Niño conditions are already underway and are forecast to strengthen rapidly into a strong event – as accurately anticipated by WMO forecasts. This will intensify the chances of drought and heavy rainfall and the risk of heatwaves on land and marine heatwaves in many regions of the world,” said Celeste Saulo, WMO Secretary-General. Multiple weather models and the WMO’s global seasonal update has confirmed that El Nino will intensify into a ‘strong’ El Nino during July and September.