As Skymet Meteorology Division in India had forecasted, the dry spell in west coast has ended as many cities situated on the coastline received light to moderate rain showers in the last 24 hours.
Punalur in Kerala received 89 mm of rain, while Pune, Harnai and Honnavar observed rain above 40 mm during last 24 hours. The rain was 29 mm for Nasik, 21 mm for Ratnagiri and 2.9 mm for Mangalore. Mumbai received only 2 mm of rain.
West coast had been observing a rain deficit of up to 70% on a daily basis in the last few days but due to moderate rain in the recent span, the deficit is expected to come down for many parts.
September is a monsoon month for the west coast, unlike other regions including northeast where Southwest monsoon begins to retreat. However, the coast did not receive any significant rain for almost 5 days.
Reasons for Rain showers
Additionally the effects of cyclonic circulation brewing in the India Ocean near Comorin region were seen near Kerala that further accentuated the rain activity over the west coast.
Forecast for next 48 hours
After providing some relief in the form of rain showers, the circulations are expected to move away from the coast resulting in reduction of spatial coverage and intensity of the rainfall.
Farmers in Brazil have started planting what may be their third consecutive record soybean crop, though progress has been uneven in South America's largest economy. Parana, Brazil's No. 2 soybean growing state, in southern Brazil has planted 6 percent of its expected 5 million hectares (12 million acres) after abundant rainfall.
Indian sugar futures edged down on profit-taking on expectations of higher output due to healthy distribution of the monsoon rains over sugarcane growing regions of the country. But buying interest is expected in the next few weeks as India is set to celebrate the festivals of Dussehra & Diwali, a time when sugar demand surges.
China's plan to slash cotton imports next year has dealt one of biggest blows yet to United States farmers' hopes of a sustained recovery in prices, raising further fears the policy overhaul may roil global trade and curb demand. China will cut imports next year to 894,000 tonnes, the minimum required under World Trade Organization commitments.
Export of cashew kernels from India continued to show a declining trend while the domestic demand has witnessed an upsurge. Shipments of cashew during April and August of 2014 fell to 46,240 tonnes from 52,771 tonnes during the corresponding period last year, according to the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI).
As the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) entered into the Mars on Wednesday, India successfully crafted history in its very first attempt. With this country's space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has demonstrated its mastery over making the spacecraft and indigenous technology to 'think and act on its own'.
ISRO has already released the first picture of Mars on Thursday, taken by its spacecraft, Mangalyaan, soon after reaching the orbit of the Red planet. The orbiter aims to hunt whether life ever existed on Mars, which is a look a like of Earth. Let us have a look at the top 10 facts about MOM.
India's space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has released the first picture of Mars on Thursday, taken by its spacecraft, Mangalyaan, soon after reaching the orbit of the Red planet.
India triumphed in its maiden Mars Mission as its spacecraft 'Magalyaan' successfully reached the red planet on its very first attempt on Wednesday, elevating country's position at par with elite nations in the global space race.
The high definition pictures of Mars were taken with the help of cameras onboard the satellite, revealing the type of terrain on the planet and are yet to be analysed by the Indian scientists. However, the overall mission aims to study Mars' surface and mineral composition, and scan its atmosphere for methane, a gas strongly tied to life on Earth.
Mars is the most explored planet among the eight planets of our Solar System. According to Skymet Meteorology Division in India, the prime reason behind its chase is to look for the signatories of any life or to determine whether life ever existed on the planet, since it is the most earth like. There were also indications that there was availability of water. Reportedly, few scientists also claim that life began on Mars.
ISRO’s low-cost mission crowned India as the first country to execute such a project in its first attempt. With this achievement, India joins a small group of Mars explorers - United States, Erstwhile USSR and European Space Agency- that have successfully sent probes to orbit or land on Mars. It is also the first Asian country to achieve the distinction, however, Asian giants, China and Japan had also attempted but failed.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was also present at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network at Sriharikota on Wednesday, hailed the Indian scientists over the great achievement. Speaking to mediapersons, Modi said, “India has created history. We have dared to reach out into the unknown and achieved the near impossible.”
The Mars Orbit Missioner (MOM) costs roughly a tenth of NASA's Mars mission Maven that successfully entered Mars orbit on September 21.
Picture courtesy: ISRO
The hot and summerlike spell in several parts of the United Kingdom has broken records for the last 50 years. And if the current hot weather continues till October, Indian summer is on the cards for citizens of UK!
The first half of September has been UK's driest since 1964 and unfortunately some parts of the country have seen less than a millimeter of rain in the past few weeks.
From 1st – 15th September, parts of UK have witnessed 6.7 mm of rain which is just 7% of the September average of 96 mm. However, UK usually receives half of its monthly average rainfall by this point. London has only received 2 mm of rain through the first 18 days of September.
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are the countries who are observing the driest September. On the contrary, England remains least affected by the dry spell.
This was in stark contrast to August, which was a very wet month across the UK, with rainfall 56 per cent above normal.
Dry weather with sunshine is expected to hover over the parts of UK for next couple of days.
Memorable September Hot Spells/Days
| 4th September 1880 - highs reached 30.7C in Loughbrough. Nationally this was the hottest day of the year. |
| 6th September 1890 - highs reached 28.3C in Llandovery, Dyfed. Nationally this was the hottest day of the year. |
| 10th September 1891 - highs reached 30C in Loughbrough. Nationally this was the hottest day of the year. |
| 23rd to 29th September 1895 - highs reached 30.6C in Strathfield Turgis in Hampshire on the 25th and 27th. Nationally these days were the hottest days of the year. |
| 7th September 1898 - highs reached 33.4C in Norwood, London. Nationally this was the hottest day of the year. |
| 31st August to 3rd September 1906 - this is the most impressive September heat wave of the 20th century. |
Rain seems to be following a reducing trend now but not without leaving a trail of devastation. Going by media reports, at least 55 people have been killed and thousands displaced due to flash floods and mudslides caused by heavy rains in several states of Northeast India.
With 35 people killed in cases of drowning and landslides, Meghalaya is the worst hit. Generally, rain waters from Meghalaya flows down to Bangladesh but in such heavy showers, as witnessed on Sunday and Monday, flooding can’t be avoided. Cherrapunji in Meghalaya had received over 1000 mm of rain in the last six days but received only 20 mm in last 24 hours.
On Monday the city observed 205 mm of rain, while other places like Williamnagar recorded 319 mm, Shillong 203 mm, Nongstoin 267 mm and Baghmara 169 mm of rain.
Rain has now reduced considerably in Meghalaya and other Northeastern states. In a span of 24 hours, only few places received rain- Shillong received 20 mm, Passighat 25 mm and Tadong in Sikkim received 62 mm of rain.
Rain in Assam
Heavy rain began visiting Assam since Friday with Barpeta and Jorhat receiving 93 mm and 61 mm of rain, respectively. Incessant rains lead to severe floods in 12 districts of Assam including Goalpara, Dhubri, Lakhimpur, Kamrup district and Guwahati. In a span of 24 hours from 8.30 am on Monday, Guwahati received a whopping 155 mm of rain. On Sunday, Dhubri had also recorded 205 mm of rain.
In last 24 hours Dhubri, Goalpara, Golaghat, Jorhat, Tezpur and most of other places did not receive any rain at all. According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, rain is likely to reduce further and if at all, only isolated places could receive light rain now.
Rescue operations
Though rescue teams have been effectively deployed, several villages are still totally submerged in water. Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Mukul Sangma said that the floods were the worst in recent memory and bad weather has been hampering rescue efforts.
Picture courtesy- The Hans India
