The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday forecast that the south-west monsoon is likely to further advance into remaining parts of Tamil Nadu, some more parts of interior Karnataka, and some parts of south Andhra Pradesh during the next two days.
The forecast comes as a significant relief to the southern States as the northern limit of the system had remained stationary since Wednesday and rainfall so far has been mainly confined to a narrow belt of about 100 km width along the west coast.
A bulletin from the IMD said the prevailing heat wave conditions over parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh and Orissa could abate over the next 24 hours and that rainfall may increase over Tamil Nadu, Rayalaseema and interior Karnataka from Thursday.
“An upper air cyclonic circulation may develop over central Bay of Bengal around 11 June which may lead to increase in rainfall over Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and south Chhattisgarh during the second half of the [coming] week,” the bulletin said.
Rentachintala in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh recorded the highest maximum temperature in the country on Friday at 45 degrees Celsius.