Surat: With the Navratri festival reaching its peak and devotees getting more enthusiastic about Garba as Maha Saptami, Ashtami, and Navami approach, the latest weather forecast from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has caused concern.

A depression forming over south coastal Odisha has prompted the IMD to issue red, orange, and yellow alerts for most districts of Gujarat for the next five days, predicting heavy rains and thunderstorms.

As per the IMD, all districts of Gujarat are on a yellow alert today, with light thunderstorms, lightning, and surface winds of 30–40 kmph, accompanied by light to moderate rain. Among these, Chhota Udepur, Narmada, Surat, Dang, Navsari, Valsad, Tapi, and the Union Territories of Daman and Dadra & Nagar Haveli are likely to witness heavy rain in the next 24 hours.

Forecast for 28th September:

• Red alert for extremely heavy rain in Surat, Navsari, Valsad, and Daman.

• Orange alert in Chhota Udepur, Narmada, Bharuch, Dang, Tapi, Amreli, and Bhavnagar for heavy to very heavy rain.

• Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Aravalli, Kheda, Ahmedabad, Anand, Panchmahal, Dahod, Mahisagar, Vadodara, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Botad, and Diu may also experience heavy rain.

Forecast for 29th September:

• Red alert issued for Amreli, Gir Somnath, and Diu.

• Orange alert remains effective for Surat, Dang, Navsari, Valsad, Tapi, Daman, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Rajkot, Junagadh, and Bhavnagar.

• Heavy rain is also likely in Banaskantha, Patan, Ahmedabad, Anand, Bharuch, Surendranagar, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Morbi, Dwarka, Botad, and Kutch.

Forecast for 30th September:

• Orange alert with heavy to very heavy rains in Porbandar, Junagadh, Dwarka, Gir Somnath, and Diu.

• Yellow alert in Surat, Dang, Navsari, Valsad, Tapi, Daman, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Morbi, and Kutch.

Forecast for 1st October:

• Heavy rains very likely at isolated places in Saurashtra-Kutch districts, including Rajkot, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Junagadh, Dwarka, Gir Somnath, Kutch, and Diu.

• Yellow alert is in place in these districts.

Additionally, from 28th to 30th September, the IMD has issued an orange warning for thunderstorms across all districts of Gujarat, with moderate thunderstorms, lightning, surface winds of 40–50 kmph, and rain in isolated places. On 1st October, the thunderstorm warning will cover all districts of Saurashtra and Kutch.

Following this, light to moderate rain is expected in all districts of Gujarat on 2nd and 3rd October.

The IMD bulletin also stated that the line of withdrawal of the southwest monsoon continues to pass through 20°N/69°E, Veraval, Bharuch, Ujjain, Jhansi, Shahjahanpur, and 30°N/81°E.

The depression over south coastal Odisha moved westwards at a speed of 15 kmph during the past six hours and was centered at 0830 hrs IST today, 27th September 2025, over south interior Odisha near latitude 19.3°N and longitude 84.2°E, about 50 km east-northeast of Gunupur (Odisha), 70 km west of Gopalpur (Odisha), 130 km south of Phulbani (Odisha), 130 km east-southeast of Bhawanipatna (Odisha), and 230 km east of Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh).

It is very likely to continue moving nearly westwards across south Odisha and Chhattisgarh and gradually weaken into a well-marked low-pressure area during the next 24 hours. DeshGujarat