Weather today: Depression moves over West Bengal, Jharkhand; Maharashtra, 3 more states on IMD's red alert

Weather today: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasted extremely heavy rainfall on July 26 in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh due to a depression over coastal West Bengal and surrounding regions. A red alert is in place for Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.

The IMD in a post on X said, “The Depression over Gangetic WestBengal moved west-northwestwards with a speed of 15 kmph during past 6 hoursand lay centred at 2330 hrs IST of yesterday, the 25th July over GangeticWest Bengal and adjoining Jharkhand, near Lat. 23.0°N and Long. 86.6°E, about 40km south-southeast of Purulia (West Bengal), 50 km east-northeast of Jamshedpur(Jharkhand), 140 km east-southeast of Ranchi (Jharkhand), and 250 km east of Jashpurnagar(Chhattisgarh).”

According to IMD, the depression will continue to move west–north-westwards today across Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, north Chhattisgarh and northeast Madhya Pradesh and southeast Uttar Pradesh.

Under the influence of Depression, “Extremely heavy rainfall is very likely at isolated places over….Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh on 26th; West Madhya Pradesh on 26th & 27th; East Madhya Pradesh on 26th July.”

Similar weather conditions have been predicted for isolated places over Konkan and Ghat areas of Madhya Maharashtra on July 26. Under the influence of Depression over coastal West Bengal and adjoining areas, extremely heavy downpour is likely over east, central and west India in the coming days, IMD said.

Heavy rains triggered by a depression lashed Kolkata on Friday, bringing life to a standstill in West Bengal's capital. Severe waterlogging and traffic snarls were reported around Salt Lake and IT hub Sector V as roads and streets were inundated.

Kolkata rains

On July 26, Saturday morning, isolated heavy to very heavy rain is likely in Bankura, Jhargram and Paschim Medinipur districts of South Bengal, the IMD said in its latest weather bulletin. The maximum and minimum temperature in Kolkata is expected to settle around 30 and 25 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, heavy precipitation will continue till July 29 over sub-Himalayan districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar.

What is a depression?

According to climate experts, a depression is characterised as a weather system typically marked by cloudy, wet and windy conditions.