Season's first intense western disturbance to bring widespread rain to northwest India

An intense western disturbance is expected to bring widespread rain to northwest India and some parts of central India over the next four days, the India Meteorological Department said on Friday.

This is the first intense western disturbance of the season and will lead to heavy rainfall/snowfall in part of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, the Met office said.

Widespread rainfall is expected over Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi on Monday.

Under the influence of the western disturbance, an induced cyclonic circulation is likely to form over central Pakistan and neighbourhood during the next 24 hours. This system is likely to intensify further with the possibility of merger of a fresh western disturbance on October 15, the IMD said.

The system will influence northwest and central India from Friday night to October 17. It is likely to receive moisture from the Arabian Sea. As a result, the rainfall intensity and distribution are very likely to increase over northwest India during the same period, it said.

Dry northwesterly winds from the Himalayas are likely to prevail over northwest India in lower tropospheric levels after the passage of western disturbance. As a result, temperatures are likely to fall by 2 to 4 notches from October 17 over the region.