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Cloudburst Hits Mumbai; Others Still Await Needed Rain

Jul 14, 2009; 11:15 AM ET

--South Asia:

--A setting of weak Monsoon lows rippling westward roughly along 20 degrees North has taken hold over the Subcontinent for the early to midweek. The result since the start of the week has be mostly what I would deem 'typical' rain over much -- certainly not all -- of the region. Coverage has remained choppy with no more than moderate falls over wide areas. But the exceptions have been worthy of mention.

A series of cloudbursts was unleashed over western Maharashtra, both along and west of the Ghats. At the Santacruz site within greater Mumbai, rainfall since the start of the week has topped 30 cm, or one foot. Heavy rain has also pelted Mahabaleshwar atop the crest of the Ghats southeast of Mumbai.

Our records inhouse show rainfall at the Santacruz site has reached about 95 cm since the start of June. This would be ABOVE the normal (to date) amount of about 87 cm. Disagreement with the IMD site on this can be chalked up to my inclusion of rain fallen since their last climate summary (0300 UTC on Tuesday).

Much drier Pune, likewise, has had a helpful boost in rainfall, albeit more on the order 5 to 6 cm.

Another site hit with inundating cloudbursts is Raipur, Chattisgarh. Rainfall since the start of Monday was over 30 cm -- much the same as that of Mumbai. Most of this fell within a 24-hour stretch. Thus, this east-central city has had the lion's share of its normal July rainfall.

--As I hinted above, the setting of weak Monsoon low pressure rippling westward over northern peninsular India will hold through Thursday. This will give rise to further heavy and very heavy falls as far north as Gujarat. But these will be the exception.

As for Pakistan, the track of Monsoon 'ripples' will be too southerly for any widespread rainy outbreaks. I do foresee local downpours in strong thunderstorms over the south and east of Sindh, however.

--East Asia:

Another 14 cm of rain (within 24 hours ended 1200 UTC on Tuesday) and Seoul, South Korea is near 55 cm for the month thus far. Rainfall for all of July is normally near 36 cm, which bespeaks the exceptionally wet summer climate that is typical of Korea.

Elsewhere, rainfall within 24 hours topped 20 cm (8 inches) at Pyonggang, North Korea.

--I look for more outbreaks of heavy rain on the Korean Peninsula through this week.

--Tropical Depression 06W has dissipated along the shore of China south of Shanghai. Heavy rain on the eastern side of Taiwan seems to have been its greatest impact.

--Next tropical weather system to watch is a wave west of Palau and east of southern Philippines. The JTWC see good potential for this to become the next western Pacific tropical depression.

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Jim Andrews
The International weather blog from AccuWeather.com is written by Jim Andrews who has more than 10 years experience forecasting outside the United States.