Rains to hit southern Gujarat in 48 hours

In a major relief for the state, the Meteorological Department has predicted that conditions are favourable for the onset of monsoon in the state within the next 48 hours.

Usually, southwest monsoon enters the state by around June 10. However, its onset has been delayed by 15 days this year, owing to the slow northerly movement of the monsoonal clouds and the formation of Vayu—a very severe cyclonic storm over Arabian Sea—that hit the Gujarat coast as a depression.

"Conditions are favourable for the onset of monsoon in the state during the next 48 hours," Meteorologist Manorama Mohanty said, "However, it will take a few more days for the monsoonal clouds to cover the entire state".

As of now, the northern limit of monsoon passes through Ratnagiri, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Nagpur, and Varanasi.

The India Meteorological Department has forecasted favourable conditions for further cloud advancement over parts of the central Arabian Sea, Konkan, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Vidarbh, Chhattisgarh and some parts of south Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in the next 48 hours.

Mohanty said Ahmedabad and adjoining areas can expect light showers over the next 48 hours courtesy a trough persisting from west Rajasthan to east-central Bay of Bengal.

The city will be covered by a cloudy sky and temperatures will drop. Mercury has shot northwards after the weakening of cyclonic storm Vayu. On Sunday, the city recorded a maximum temperature of 38.8 degrees Celsius, which will decline by 2-3 degrees over the next few days.