Delhi and adjoining States like Rajasthan and Haryana are likely to see moderate to heavy rain in next few days. India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that rain will make a comeback after August 19 owing to fresh low pressure over Northwest Bay of Bengal.
The monsoons this year has continued uninterrupted for the last two months, and weather scientists claim that this is rare. The country has already received 654.3 mm of rainfall, which is 13 per cent above average. June-July saw a two-decade high rain. However, it weakened slightly during the first week of August, but picked up again.This sudden surge of wet spell in August was not foreseen during the onset of monsoons in June and July, said IMD experts. In fact, in its first long-range forecast, the IMD had predicted that August would be a comparatively dry month after two months of heavy rainfall in June and July.
According to sources, this surprising rainy spell that is expected to continue for the rest of this month is due to the formation of a well-marked low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal and the early movement of a westerly trough over the Tibetan plateau. Instead of moving northwards, the low-pressure area has moved inland and might either move into Rajasthan or even westward. In any case, this would mean more rain for those parts of the country, he said.
The figures from IMD indicated that while Central India has received the highest of 860.2 mm rainfall (35% above average), the eastern and north-eastern India recorded 32% below average. In South Peninsula, there has been a record rainfall of 571.4 mm (23% above average) while north-west India has so far received 484.9 mm( 22% above average). The present monsoon has shown an anomalous trend. For example, it has been found that in certain areas of Western Rajasthan the average rainfall has increased and many regions have seen good spells of rain, the adjoining areas suffered from dry spells.
The weather experts confirmed that the rainfall has not been uniform and local factors could be the reasons behind this phenomenon. Pointing out that Western Rajasthan has not received uniform rain, sources in IMD noted that parts of Naggaur district remained dry and several regions of Jaisalmer, Barmer and Bikaner districts did not receive adequate rain.
While the actual reasons are yet to be ascertained, scientists have not ruled out global warming behind the anomaly. Meanwhile, the IMD has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall over various States, including the northern States as Uttarakhand, Himachal, Punjab, Delhi, besides the parts of Rajasthan. This rainy spell would continue across West Bengal , Sikkim, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, Konkan and Goa amongst other States for the next three days.