Southwest Monsoon entered a week ahead of its scheduled time of arrival (May 21) over parts of the Andaman Sea, southern Bay of Bengal and the Andaman and Nicobar Island, IMD said. The weather department recorded widespread moderate to heavy rainfall in a few places over the Nicobar Islands, with westerly winds increasing in intensity in the past two days over southern Bay of Bengal, Nicobar Islands and Andaman Sea, reported HT.
“There is a cyclonic circulation over southeast Bay of Bengal, due to which rainfall activity will intensify. Rainfall is increasing and conditions are gradually becoming favourable for the onset of monsoon. A heat low pressure will be created and monsoon may reach parts of Arabian Sea in the next 4-5 days,” Mahesh Palawat of Skymet Weather told the outlet.
Extremely heavy rainfall will occur at isolated places over Meghalaya on May 14, DTE reported citing the India Meteorological Department. In the west, isolated light/moderate rainfall accompanied with thunderstorm, lightning and gusty winds at speeds reaching 30-50 kmph is likely over Konkan and Goa, Madhya Maharashtra and Marathawada during May 14-17 and Gujarat on May 14, the report said. Isolated to scattered light/moderate rainfall is likely over Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Sikkim and Bihar during May 14-17; Jharkhand during May 15-17 and Odisha during May 14-15.
Earlier IMD had said monsoon rains are expected to hit India’s southern coast on May 27, five days earlier than usual, marking the earliest arrival in at least five years, the weather office said, raising hopes for bumper harvests of crops such as rice, corn, and soybean, Reuters reported. The monsoon delivers nearly 70% of the rain that India needs to water farms and recharge aquifers and reservoirs,the newswire said.
Heatwave conditions are likely to continue over some areas of West Bengal till May 15 and likely to commence over Jharkhand from May 13, over Uttar Pradesh from May 14 and over West Rajasthan from May 15, reported HT.
At least 14 dead due to heavy rain in India’s Gujarat
At least 14 people died and 16 others were injured as heavy pre-monsoon showers lashed western state of Gujarat on May 4 and 5, reported Reuters citing state officials. The unseasonal rain across most of the state was driven by a cyclonic circulation in the neighbouring parts of Pakistan and India’s Rajasthan state, according to the India Meteorological Department.
Global warming reaches 1.58°C over 12 months to end-April
New data showed that the monthly average global temperature topped the “1.5°C warming level” for 21 out of the past 22 months, reported the FT. The European planetary data service Copernicus has found that April was the second-hottest recorded at 14.96C, or 1.51°C above the estimated 1850-1900 average. As such, April was just 0.7C cooler than the record set in 2024, while the global average temperature over the past year was 1.58C above the pre-industrial level. “The continued warming comes as efforts to tackle global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions are set back by competing pressures on governments to respond to trade, defence and other economic demands”
More than 100 dead after floods hit eastern DR Congo
Over 100 people have been killed in flash floods in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, BBC News reported adding: “Torrential rain triggered the flooding overnight in South Kivu, destroying homes and displacing families. The region is approaching the end of its wet season, but further heavy downpours are forecast in the coming days, raising fears of more flooding.”
The floods have “washed away several villages” in the South Kivu province, with “children and elderly people” disproportionately killed, reported Agence France-Presse. It quoted Bernard Akili, a regional official, saying that torrential rains caused the Kasaba River to burst its banks overnight, with the rushing waters “carrying everything in their path, large stones, large trees and mud, before razing the houses on the edge of the lake”.
Earlier an assessment of floods in April by scientists at the World Weather Attribution found that high vulnerability, fuelled by extreme conflict in eastern DRC, was a major factor in why the disaster was so deadly.
Rain events to increase in South Asia due to rapid Arctic sea ice decline: Study
A new study published in IOP Science said a rapid and significant decline in Arctic sea ice will lead to an increase in intense precipitation events (IPEs) across South Asia, exposing people to disasters associated with extreme rain, reported HT.
The Arctic sea ice decline has been accelerating with climate change, the newspaper said, citing the research paper published on May 6. The report said that intense rain events, like those recorded during the 2018 floods in Kerala or the 2013 floods in Uttarakhand, will increase in frequency. Both of these events were intense precipitation events. Rainfall events that exceed a threshold of 150 mm day−1 (in a grid point) are counted as extreme rainfall events.
Climate change intensified deadly April rainfall in US south and midwest: Study
Climate change intensified deadly rainfall in Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and other states in early April and made those storms more likely to occur, according to an analysis by the World Weather Attribution group of scientists, reported The Independent. The newspaper said a series of storms unleashed tornadoes, strong winds and extreme rainfall in the central Mississippi Valley region from April 3-6 and caused at least 24 deaths. Homes, roads and vehicles were inundated and 15 deaths were likely caused by catastrophic floods, the report said.
The researchers found that climate change made the heavy rainfall 40% more likely and 9% more intense than in pre-industrial times, reported Mongabay.
Centre bans use of several medically important antimicrobials in aquaculture sector
The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry prohibited use of several medically important antimicrobials in the aquaculture sector. Overuse and misuse of antibiotics in food-animal production settings (poultry, dairy and aquaculture) for purposes such as promoting growth or preventing or controlling diseases is known. This has been attributed as one of the drivers of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), an important public health concern, reported DTE.
The presence of resistant bacteria or residual antibiotics in food products such as meat, milk or fish is also a food safety concern, the report added. Researchers have estimated that 10,259 tonnes of antimicrobials were used globally in aquaculture in 2017, and their use will increase by 33 per cent to 13,600 tonnes annually by 2030, the outlet said adding that the most significant portion of worldwide antimicrobial use in aquaculture is in the Asia-Pacific area.
Terracotta rings may help save sinking Sundarbans and regenerate mangrove
A humble terracotta ring could change the fate of the Sundarbans wetlands, Mongabay reported. The outlet said arrangements of large terracotta rings, ranging from two to four feet in diameter and standing at about a foot or two in height, may help save sinking islands in the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve. These rings, installed in grids measuring 92 metres in length along the embankment, and about 6.5 metres wide along its slope, are silt traps.
Terracotta rings, when installed as silt traps along estuarine embankments in the Sundarbans, effectively capture and retain sediment, reducing erosion. The sediment accumulation creates a suitable substrate for mangrove seed settlement and growth, leading to increased natural regeneration. Field observations over a 16-month period indicate that these silt traps contribute to stabilizing the shoreline, mitigating coastal degradation. This nature-based approach offers a cost-effective, scalable strategy for sustainable coastal protection in vulnerable regions.
Tree leaves in Western Ghats crossing critical heat thresholds: Study
Scientists found that leaves of several tropical forest and agroforestry species in the Western Ghats are already reaching temperatures that could push them toward irreversible heat damage, reported DTE.
Thirteen agroforestry species and four native forest species were monitored over a 4.5-month period in 2023 at Hosagadde village near Sirsi in Karnataka — an area that frequently experiences high air temperatures, sometimes above 40 degrees Celsius.
They found that many plants were exposed to leaf temperatures surpassing critical physiological thresholds, raising concerns over how tropical species may respond to rising global temperatures.
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