The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy rainfall across the northern and Eastern parts of the country for the next four days.

These places include Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Delhi, East Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gangetic West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Odisha.

IMD has issued an orange colour warning for heavy to very heavy rainfall over Assam, Meghalaya, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim and Bihar for today.

The weather agency has forecast thunderstorms accompanied with lightning and gusty winds over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and East and West Madhya Pradesh, along with places receiving rainfall during the next two to three days.

The Met Department said that Coastal Andhra Pradesh may experience heatwave conditions today.

Talking to Akashvani News, IMD scientist Dr Naresh said that very heavy rainfall exceeding 12 centimeters is likely in parts of the Northeast over the next two days.

Dr Naresh further noted that rainfall activity is expected to remain below normal across most parts of northwest, central and peninsular India during the next six to seven days due to the absence of any significant low-pressure system.

He added that due to El Niño conditions, the country’s overall monsoon rainfall has slipped to below normal.