Assam and Meghalaya face very heavy to extremely heavy rain, raising the risk of flash floods and landslides. (Photo: PTI)

Heavy rain will batter Northeast, Central India to face extreme heat Monday

India faces a split weather day on Monday, June 22, with extreme rain pounding the Northeast while a heat wave scorches Central India. Here is what the IMD forecast means for Delhi, Mumbai, Bihar and the monsoon's next move.

by · India Today

In Short

  • Assam and Meghalaya brace for extreme rain on June 22.
  • Delhi may see light rain and strong gusts later tonight.
  • Monsoon to advance into Bihar and Maharashtra around June 23

In Mawsynram and Cherrapunji, the two Meghalaya villages that hold the world's wettest records, the rain has barely paused for breath.

Mawsynram gathered a staggering 53 centimetres of rain in a single day on Sunday, June 21.

A peacock captured during the rainy season in Assam. (Photo: PTI)

Cherrapunji nearby logged 47 centimetres in the same period. Yet a thousand kilometres west, Vidarbha is gasping under a severe heat wave. India is living through two seasons at once.

The India Meteorological Department expects this strange split to sharpen on June 22.

WHERE WILL IT RAIN THE HARDEST ON JUNE 22?

The Northeast takes the worst of it. Very heavy to extremely heavy rain, or more than 20 centimetres in a single day, is likely over Assam and Meghalaya, with heavy downpours over Arunachal Pradesh and the Sub-Himalayan belt of West Bengal and Sikkim.

Heavy rain is forecast over Meghalaya on June 22. (Photo: PTI)

Districts such as Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar, already soaked, are most exposed. Flash floods and landslides remain a genuine danger across these fragile hills.

WHY IS THE NORTHEAST GETTING SO MUCH RAIN?

There are two reasons. Moisture-laden winds racing in from the Bay of Bengal are shoved upward when they strike the Himalayan foothills, cooling as they rise and wringing out their water like a soaked sponge.

Swans enjoying the rain in Assam. (Photo: PTI)

Scientists call this orographic lift. On top of that, several cyclonic circulations, or swirling columns of rising, spinning air, sit over the region and keep the rain machine running.

WILL DELHI AND THE PLAINS SEE A STORM?

Quite possibly. Delhi can expect a partly cloudy sky and a short burst of light rain with gusty winds touching 60 kilometres per hour by evening.

West Rajasthan braces for a dust storm, while Bihar and Rajasthan face thundersqualls, violent gusts that rise without warning and last at least a minute.

Delhi could see light rain and gusty evening winds, while Rajasthan braces for a dust storm and thundersqualls. (Photo: PTI)

There is good news too. The southwest monsoon is set to sweep into more of Maharashtra, Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar around June 23, and the west coast from Konkan to Goa should turn wetter.

After weeks of an uneven, sluggish start, relief is finally on the move. Residents in the worst-hit belts can track live district warnings through the day.

- Ends